Sparks that Fly and Fall
by JackRabbit361
Summary: KakaxOC, an old friend comes back from the dead. Is she the same little girl with her nose stuck in a book or has she become something more, something terrible? Pretty good story, has humor, angst, little bit of everything. Last few chapters are the best.
1. Prologue

**As unfortunate as it was that my original story, Belleza Dimenticata, was removed for "**various unjust and unproven reasons including 'interactive, chat/script, real person, mst, and etc.' **", one good thing that came of it was that I got around to writing a proper prologue. So, here ya'll go, hopefully my old fans will find this one.**

**I do not own any characters except for Hana/Mika, Rei, Genjo, Watari, and the personality of the Rokubi. Everything else, including the universe all of this takes place in, belongs to Masashi Kishimoto… duh.**

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**Sparks that Fly and Fall**

Prologue:

"I'm back!" Hana shouted as she marched straight up to the Hokage's desk. The chicken-legged thirteen year old, whose features were only exaggerated by her short-shorts and long-sleeve shirt, had no trouble slipping past the large squadron of ANBU that stood in her way. They were there getting briefed on a new development in the North. Rumors were swirling that something big was about to go down.

"Hmmm?", the Hokage glanced to the side of his desk where the young blonde now stood. "Oh hey Sparky. Hold on one sec, kay?" He turned his attention back to the black op soldiers. "I want a watch at a minimum of 5 miles out from the village wall. Nothing gets closer than that without me knowing about it, understood?" The squad bowed and disappeared.

"Done now?" Hana impatiently climbed up on his desk.

"I don't know. You gonna get up off my desk?" He tilted his head in a condescending motion. "Just cause you're my little sister, doesn't mean you can just barge in here like that. Especially when I'm working."

"Ooo, look at you nii-san! Acting all tough. You'd think you take this job seriously or something." She laughed and jumped down. "Look, I finished my observations." She walked around the side of the desk, crawled into her big brother's lap and pulled out a scroll from her pouch. "Here, read."

He wrapped one arm around his little sister and scooted closer to read her writing. After several minutes, he finally spoke. "This is everything?"

"Yes, nii-san. I did just like you asked. I went to the northern forest, I watched the people there, and this is what I saw. I didn't leave out a single detail. I'm getting pretty good at writing pretty, huh?" She'd gotten hooked on writing ever since she had read a book called, The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja.

Her brother was a bit engrossed by the contents more than the organization of the writing. "And this here," He pointed to one sentence in particular. "You're certain that he had Sharingan eyes?"

"Yea. Speaking of which, I thought that the Uchiha were on our side in the war?"

The Hokage took a deep breath. "War's a complicated thing." He patted her head and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry, Sparky."

"For what? Wait, did you eat the last piece of cake? Man, with Kushina about ready to pop, she won't make another one for a while! God, you're selfish!"

He laughed into her shoulder. "No, it's still there waiting for you."

Hana wiggled and turned around to face her brother. "So then, what could you possibly be sorry for?"

"I'm sorry that you became a 'sparky', Sparky." He was referring to the fact that his little sister was the human host for the six-tailed beast, Rokubi-no-Raijuu, the beast of lightning. She had developed a rather odd relationship with the entity. She could hear its thoughts and it could hear hers, like a kind of internal conversation, similar to having a conscience only it's much more aggressive and cruel.

"Oh nii-san." She held his face in front of hers. "Not your fault. Besides, it's not so bad. I may not get along with too many people around the village because of the thing, but I still have you, and Jiraiya-sama, and even Kakashi." She grinned widely and slid off his lap. "Speaking of… he's about to run through your door."

"Huh? How can you be so sure of that?"

"Rokubi told me. He says he can sense chakra… or something to that effect. It's lame; he won't teach me how to do it." She crossed her arms and started to mumble. "Stupid weasel, says I'm too much of goody-two-shoes. Hmph!"

A young Kakashi, no more than 14 or 15, came walking quickly through the doors to the Hokage's office. "Minato-sensei!" There was a quick bow of his head before he started to continue with his message.

Unfortunately, Hana had different plans for the conversation. "What? Am I not good enough for you to greet as well? Just cause you're some kind of a hot shot ANBU noob, doesn't mean you can just ignore Chunnin like me."

The 'hot-shot ANBU noob' stuck his hands into his pockets and glared at a blank wall on the opposite side of the room from Hana. "Wasn't ignoring you.", he grumbled from behind his mask and then turned to face her. "I was just doing my job, like ninjas are supposed to do. Not visiting family and goofing off."

Hana smirked, "I wasn't goofing off. I had to deliver a very important report to my Hokage." She gave a bright smile. "And hello to you as well."

He sighed and dropped his shoulders some, in defeat. "Hi."

"Kakashi, you wanted to tell me something?" The Hokage snapped his fingers twice to regain his attention.

"Yes, Minato-sensei. The head of Reconnaissance wanted to meet with you. He's at the Kita Tower waiting for you." He delivered his message with an air of utter seriousness about him.

"Alright then." He threw on his coat and started out the door, passing the two teenagers. Stopping at the doorway, he looked back at Hana. "Hey Sparky, go home for the day."

"What?! No way! There must be something for --" She stopped mid-sentence at the raising of her brother's hand. He would only do that to her if he were dead serious.

Minato smiled softly, "Go home, eat some cake, and keep Kushina company." Hana raised an eyebrow at him, mentally scoffing at him for thinking he could stop her from getting involved in whatever was going to happen. He got the message loud and clear. "Kakashi,", he ordered. "Make sure she goes home."

"Yes, sensei." He replied obediently. Minato waved bye and left the two of them in the room. Instantly Hana headed toward the door, only to have her arm caught by Kakashi's grip. "Where do you think you're going?"

She took a second to evaluate the expression on his face, or at least what could be seen of it. Deciding that it was better not to fight him on this one, she went with the next best thing, "I'm going to go eat some cake. The door's the only way out of here." …sarcasm.

"Uh, huh." He responded dully and led her back to her house.

The walk was quiet between the two, not because they couldn't stand each other; more because the streets were bustling with people rushing to and fro carrying supplies and necessities. It was a scene that avidly caught both of their attentions.

Hana walked in the front door with Kakashi following behind. She made a b-line for the refrigerator and took out the last piece of lemon cake. "Ahhh…" she took a deep breath as she smelled the sweet, citrus and perfectly made cake. "You wanna share it?" She offered. Kakashi shrugged his shoulders like he wasn't interested. "Oh come on.", she waved the slice about in the air before his face. "You know you like it."

"Yea, o.k." He walked over to a drawer and pulled out another fork. "But then I have to go."

Hana started the conversation while they sat at the kitchen table. "So what do you suppose it is?" She took a bite of the lemon cake.

"What do you mean?" He asked back as he slid down his mask to eat.

She glanced out the window over the sink. It was dusk; the sun would be completely gone in a couple of minutes allowing darkness to encompass the village. "What's going to happen? An attack, an invasion …something worse?"

"Don't worry about it. You're not involved." He took another bite.

Hana stood up abruptly, slamming her hands on the table. "The hell I'm not involved!" Kakashi raised his eyebrow at her sudden outburst. "I'm a ninja of this village and something really bad is fixing to happen. It's my responsibility to help protect it."

Very calmly, he swallowed what he had in his mouth. "To a point, yes. But you've got special circumstances. And right now, those special circumstances take effect. Minato-sensei wants you to stay home tonight. It's not safe."

The spiteful blonde sat back down. "What about being a ninja is even remotely safe?" Noticing he was about to try to answer that question, she continued. "That's a rhetorical question. Don't.", she raised her hand at him. He just shrugged his shoulders and continued eating cake.

Kushina walked in stretching her arms and yawning. "Well, hello you two.", she smiled brightly.

"Oh sorry, did I wake you?" Hana had forgotten that her sister-in-law always takes naps in the late afternoon.

"Yea, ya' did." She yawned deeply again. "Don't worry about it. I was going to get up eventually. So, what are you guys doing here, huh?" She took the last bite of cake from Hana, who proceeded to glare at the large woman.

Kakashi giggled slightly. "Is that a rhetorical question?" Hana's glare shifted over to him. "I better get going, it's already dark out. Goodbye, Kushina-sama." He stood and walked to the door. Hana dashed after him. "No, Hana." He held her back at an arm's length.

She smiled in a sweet, innocent manner. "What? No goodbye to me too?"

He sighed and let her go. "Bye." Turning and walking out the door, he called over his shoulder before he took off to his post, "And stay put."

Hana gave him a mock salute and walked back to the kitchen where Kushina was licking the plate that had the lemon cake on it. "Hungry much?"

"You have no idea." The very pregnant woman set the plate back down, now spotless. "Hey, why don't you run out and see if Ichiraku's is still open. I'm craving some ramen."

"What kind?" Hana cleared the table and put the dishes in the sink.

"All kinds." There was a moment of silence as Hana stared at Kushina and her completely sincere request. "Here.", she handed Hana some money and pushed her out the door. "Hurry up, I'm starving. I don't think I have more than 10 minutes to live."

"Uh, o.k." The door slammed behind her. "Guess I better hurry then." Hana started to walk into town. There were only a handful of people still out, excluding the ninja that were jumping the rooftops, patrolling the neighborhoods. She got to the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, but it was closed up, just like every other restaurant in town. She sighed and turned to go back when there was a sudden earthquake that shook the entire village. It felt more like something had struck the earth, than erupted out of it. Hana gasped as she fell to the ground.

_Brother…_, she thought and jumped back up to her feet. _No, I'm supposed to stay with Kushina._, she stopped herself from running in the same direction as the other ninja that swarmed over the rooftops. Instead, she ran back the way she came. The wind began to howl as it whipped through the town; the sky appeared to be moving in all directions at once. The earth continued to shake every few minutes as well; anyone could tell that a huge battle was raging just at the northern border of the village.

"Kushina!", Hana shouted as she ran through the front door. "Kushina, where are you!" She ran about, searching each and every room, but her dear sister-in-law was nowhere to be found. "Oh god... I… I…", she took a moment to gather herself. "O.k. I need to find Ani, I need to find my brother." She took off at a sprint for the front lines. The Rokubi's chakra slowly started to leak out, aiding in her want for speed.

A fatalist would say she arrived just a little too late, a sadist would say she was just in time. Alone on the field of battle, she saw her brother lay.

"Brother…?" She slowly approached the still figure and fell at its side. "No, brother…", she brushed some dirt off the side of his face. "…why?" The tears began to fall from her cheeks at the same that the rage and anger of the Rokubi started to push its way to the forefront of her mind. "No, no, no, no, no…", she whimpered as the beast inside her began to utter, 'Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…' The young girl stood back up and glanced around, noticing for the first time, all of the other dead bodies that covered the battlefield.

"They're dead… they're all dead."

**...yup. Nice opening, eh? Review it, let me know if I've covered my bases. A whole bunch of chapters to come as i rewrite them to fit the p.o.v.**


	2. A Possiblity

**Chapter 1, only slightly re-written. Oh and a quick informative thing: **_Italics are internal thoughts_, **I think I've done a good job letting you know who's thinking when. Also, **_Italics underlined will show up in a few chapters to show the Rokubi's words, which only Hana/Mika can hear._** Just thought I should throw that in there. The underlines in this chapter are just there so you can have an easier time reading the quotes... you'll see.**

Chapter 1: A Possibility

It was a cloudy evening in Konoha, Tsunade was sitting in her office looking over reports and drinking as usual, when Jiraiya walked in.

"Nice to see you back so soon. What is it?", she asked with an aggravated tone in her voice.

"What? I just can't drop by to see your smiling face?", he responded. Tsunade stared at him coldly. She had actually been working all day and was not in the mood. "Ok, ok, enough with the death glare. I really do have relevant business with you.", he stated.

"Well….."

"As you know I have been digging up as much information as possible on the Akatsuki and this thing that they are doing with the Jinchuuriki. I believe that they have successfully captured four bijuu out of the nine. However, they seem to be having trouble locating the remaining four, except Naruto. With him, I think that they are just biding their time." He said all of this with a look showing more concern than usual.

"That is good to know, but why the look? So long as we keep a close eye on Naruto he should be fine. We'll deal with the Akatsuki when they finally decide to take all of us on at the same time.", she spoke with a smirk on her face.

"It's not him that I am worried about.", he responded.

"Who then? The other Jinchuuriki? We don't know who they are, where they are, or if they are even still alive. "

"Have you honestly forgotten about her?"

"……her who?…...WHO DAMN IT!! I am not in the mood to play twenty questions!"

Completely unfazed by her sudden outburst he responded, "Hana." She stared at him as the memory slowly came back to her. _Hana……Hana…….'gasp'_

"Shizune! Get in here!" A very stressed looking woman ran into the room immediately.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama?"

"Get me everything that we have on Namikaze Hana……NOW!"

"Yes Tsunade-sama. Right away." With that, she sprinted out of the Hokage's office and straight to the records room.

"I can't believe that you forgot about her."

"I did not forget about her", she snapped. "It's just that she has been gone for, what, 10-

"15"

"Right, 15 years. I hate to say it but she could be dead. Or worse…she could be one of the Jinchuuriki that the Akatsuki have already gotten to."

"She may have been young, upset, and irrational when she disappeared; but she was not stupid. She probably knew where she was headed. Even though she can be painfully unpredictable, she is too clever to be caught by the Akatsuki."

Tsunade had walked back to her desk and had begun filling out a mission transcript. "Alright then", she muttered. "Who should we send to search for her? I'm thinking Kurenai's team. They're skilled at tracking."

"No."

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"Exactly how it sounds. No."

A stress mark appeared on Tsunade's forehead. She was tired, had been drinking, was still mildly shocked at the fact that Hana might still be out there, and was really getting annoyed with his consistent lack of …. Oh forget it…he's just being rude and secretive cause he won't say what he is thinking and it was really pissing her off. "Please to elaborate….?"

"I think that you should send her nephew and his team.", he said with a big smile.

_This late with such radical news and he thinks he is so funny. I think I'm going to smack him. Yea, I'm going to smack that stupid grin off his face._ 'SMACK'

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!!", he screeched in pain holding his cheek.

"I forget." _Hah! See how he likes getting no real reply to a question._

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune exclaimed while trying to balance stacks of papers through the door to the Hokage's office. She couldn't balance the stacks and they went flying all over the floor. 'gasp' "I'm so sorry Tsunade-sama!"

"It's fine", she responded, too tired to yell anymore, "just clean it up and put it on my desk and start reading through it all."

"Yes, ma'am." She kneeled and started to reorganize the strewn about papers.

Leaning against her desk now, Tsunade continued the conversation. "Kakashi is just out of the hospital, that Sai kid is a spy for Root, Naruto can't control the Kyuubi worth a damn, Yamato needs to stay near Naruto at all times for that reason, and Sakura is one of my best medical-nin and I need her here."

"Bringing back Hana would fix half of those problems. A quick search and retrieval mission is just what Kakashi needs to get back in the game. Also, with Hana back, she might be able to teach Naruto how to control the Kyuubi better thus freeing Yamato from having to be chained to Naruto's ankle at all times."

"I agree with Jiraiya-sama.", piped in Shizune. She was reading some of the files on Namikaze Hana, with bug eyes, shocked at what she was reading. "If this girl really is related to Naruto, he should be the one to go get her. Can you just imagine the fit he will throw when she gets here and he wasn't involved in the search?" A quick shiver went through everyone's body.

Tsunade could just imagine it. "It just wasn't a good idea to send you!" "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'WASN'T A GOOD IDEA'!! I HAD FAMILY AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!!" "Naruto be quiet!" "YOU DON'T EVEN TRUST ME TO GO AND GET HER!! SHE'S ALL I HAVE AND YOU JUST WANTED ME TO SIT HERE AND WAIT AND DO NOTHING!!" "Naruto Shut Up!" "FOR ALL WE KNOW THE AKATSUKI COULD HAVE BEEN CHASING HER AND I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THERE TO PROTECT HER!!"

A collective '_Oh god…_' was thought among the group. "Ok… Shizune, put together any information that might lead to her whereabouts. Jiraiya, if you have any information that might help, please tell her." The Hokage started to walk out of the room.

"Hey where are you going?", the remaining two asked in unison.

"I'm going to take some aspirin, go to bed, and prepare myself for tomorrow. Goodnight."

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**Reviews? I'd imagine that I'd get some new readers as well as my old ones and I'd like to know your thoughts.**


	3. The Set Up

Chapter 2: The Set-Up

The sun was shining brightly and the look of the Hokage's office was one to behold. From the door to the desk stretching out to all of the windows, were groups of different kinds of papers ranging from important statistical information to a bill for balloons to a, then 4 year olds, party. Shizune had sorted through it all and had compiled a fairly comprehensive list of what this girl was supposed to be; outspoken, determined, rash, skilled with a knives, and most likely aggressive and highly defensive: physically speaking; she should have natural blonde hair, blue eyes, probably of average height 5'6" or so, and probably physically fit; she was a ninja after all. It was already afternoon the next day before she was sure, without a doubt, as to where Hana was. She had stayed up all night working on this; Jiraiya helping last night and the following morning, just a bit.

When Tsunade finally decided to come into the office, she found Shizune sprawled out across her desk sound asleep, snoring quietly. As she walked across the room, careful to avoid the stacks of parchment, she noticed 3 cups of coffee on her desk; one spilled and just below it was a large puddle of cold coffee…staining her once immaculate wood floors.

_When I get over there I am gonna smack that lazy, no-_, Tsunade's eyes started to twitch.

"Good Afternoon Everyone!", Jiraiya shouted from the window, causing a startled Shizune to knock the other two cups of coffee on the floor as well. "Uhh...G-Good Morning Jiraiya-sama.", she managed to stutter out. "What time is it, may I ask?"

"Time for you to clean up the mess that you made and get out of my chair.", Tsunade snapped.

"Oh! Yes, Tsunade-sama. I'm so sorry." She shot out of the chair and began to mop up the coffee on the floor.

Taking her seat behind the cluttered desk, she asked, "So Shizune? What did you come up with?"

"I think I know where she is. I put together a file for you. It's right there.", she said kneeling up from the floor and pointing to a clean spot on the desk, then returning her attention to the coffee puddle.

"So where do we think she is?", Jiraiya asked, now in the room leaning against the window closest to the desk.

"I'm reading, hold on a sec…. Shizune, you sure do have a lot of 'probables' in this report. Just how accurate can this be?"

"Well, given her most recent psychiatric report which was a long time ago, that is what she should be like. And physically, unless she was maimed at some point, she would most likely look like that.", Shizune responded intelligently.

"Hn. And the decided location of her new residence?"

"Provided that she left because she no longer wanted to be a ninja and she wanted to stay as far away from Konoha as possible, as Jiraiya has led me to believe, and taking into account her personality, not to mention the irony, she is most definitely hiding in the Land of Lightning. It's quiet, peaceful, and the ninja there would be considerably weaker than her, so should they turn aggressive towards her, she could easily fend them off and flee to another country. If anything, it was the first place she went to; if she did leave it, maybe she would have left some sort of trail."

"So the Land of Lightning is it? Thank you, for someone finally answering my question.", Jiraiya sarcastically remarked.

Tsunade rolled her eyes as his disdain. "Shizune, do you still need all of these documents in here?"

"No, Tsunade-sama."

"Good. Get up and go get Kakashi and on your way out send in some people to finish cleaning up the mess in here."

"Yes ma'am."

-At the Training Grounds-

"WOW!! This is going to be awesome! I get to learn a new technique that will make me uber strong!", Naruto shouted with excitement.

Kakashi raised his hands in front of him. "Now just calm down a bit, Naruto. This is serious; learning this could make all the difference in getting Sasuke back."

"Yea, Naruto. Calm down and listen to Kakashi-sensei. This is really important.", Sakura shouted from over by the rocks were Sai and herself were sitting.

"Ok. Seriously, I'm calm now. What are we doing Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well, first I want to see your Rasengan in action. Yamato, if you please?" Yamato who was standing there nodded and created a large, solid wood cube for Naruto to try and smash through.

"Oh I can break that no problem!" With that, he shouted his usual RASENGAN!, and he did smash through a good chunk of the wood. Grinning happily from ear to ear he said, "Pretty impressive right!"

"No, not really.", Kakashi responded in his usual 'I-don't-really-care' attitude.

"What do you mean 'no'? That was perfect!"

"Let me ask you something here Naruto. Does it do more damage to an enemy to poke them with a rock or with a kunai?", he questioned while picking up a stone and pulling out a kunai.

Naruto stared at him blankly, attempting something as dangerous as thought. _I know that this must be a trick question. Ok, ninja use kunai a lot to hurt their enemies, but my Rasengan is really destructive and must be the rock here. So more damage is done with my roc--_"OUCH! You stabbed me!"

"No, I poked you with a kunai. You didn't seem to notice when I poked you with the rock."

"Ok, so the answer here is 'a kunai'. Alright, I got it. 'I should use kunai with my Rasengan'."

"That wasn't by point." The silver-haired jounin pinched the bridge of his nose. "The point was that a destructive yet broad attack is nowhere near as damaging as a force that has been focused on a small point. I want you to, instead of making your Rasengan bigger; try making it smaller and more compact." He then looked up to see Shizune only a few feet away, headed over to where they were standing. "You know what they say, 'Bigger isn't always better'."

Naruto began to snicker, "That's not what girls would say sensei." He started to grin evilly.

"What wouldn't girls say, Naruto?", asked Shizune who was now standing directly behind him.

"GAH!! Uhh…I-uhhh….you know…uhhh…You shouldn't sneak up on people like that." He was now blushing bright red.

"Oh, I'm sorry that I startled you, but I need to talk to Kakashi."

"Yes, can I help you?", asked her with his head tilted sideways, making his hair look even stranger.

"Tsunade-sama wishes to speak to you immediately."

"Alright then. We'll continue your training some other time, Naruto."

"What? NO! We haven't even started anything yet!"

But it was too late, he was already gone.

"Damn it! What is so important that Grandma Tsunade can't handle it on her own and she has to steal my teacher! No, you know what; I'm not going to sit here. I'm going to go give that old lady a piece of my mind. I have waited to damn long for this." He started to run off towards the Hokage's tower.

"Hey, Naruto! Where are you going!", Sakura shouted after him. He of course didn't respond so she ran after him with Sai, Yamato, and Shizune in tow.

-Hokage's Office-

"So, you really think that she could still be alive?", an outwardly unfazed but inwardly intrigued Kakashi said after hearing the details of the mission from Tsunade.

"Maybe, that's what you are going to find out. And again, you understand what needs to happen right?"

"Yes. First, hunt Hana down. Second, reason with her to come back. Third, explain to her Naruto's situation. Fourth, bring her back safe and sound. Fifth and finally, and I hope this will happen in your presence, tell Naruto who she really is."

"Exactly and of course. I wouldn't miss the look on that little twerp's face for the world."

"Hey now! I want to be here too when that happens. But for a different reason than you, Tsunade.", said a smiling Jiraiya. "Sure Naruto's reaction will be pricelessly good or bad, but what about Hana's? She thought that every last member of her family was dead and you know that she never would have left if she had known that her nephew had survived and been used in the sealing of the nine-tails."

"Eh, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.", said Tsunade as she took another sip of her drink.

vvCrAsHvv "Hey! Stop!" "GET OUTTA MY WAY!" ' 'BaM' ' "No! You can't just barge in there!"

"Well I wonder who that could be.", grumbled the Hokage.

Anime sweat drops formed on the back of Kakashi and Jiraiya's heads. _He can be so embarrassing_, they thought in unison.

'BAM' The door flew open and in charged Naruto who instantly started in on Tsunade. "What could possibly be so important that it can't wait for my training to be done, huh?!"

Sakura, followed closely by Shizune and the rest came running in moments later. "Oh Tsunade-sama, I am so sorry I tried to catch up to him and stop him from barging in here.", panted a winded Shizune.

"You would think that I would be used to his constant disrespect by now.", grinned Tsunade. "But it's fine. In fact, Naruto, I have a very good reason for interrupting your very important training." She said this last bit with an evil glare.

He was stuck staring at her, shocked that she hadn't started yelling at him, for yelling at her. "…huh? What is it?", Naruto asked crossing his arms in front of his chest, half expecting something bad and half expecting something worse.

"I'm sending your team, all five of you, on a search and retrieve mission.", she spoke with a happy tone in her voice but an evil, sneaky look on her face. "You are going to find one of the remaining Jinchuuriki and bring her back here."

Naruto's eyes widened ever-so slightly and he stayed silent. Then Sakura blurted out, "When do we leave Tsunade-sama?"

"Well… I would say immediately, but since Naruto seemed so adamant about his training I guess it could wait a few days.", said Tsunade quite matter-of-factly. "So really it's up to him.", she said pointing to Naruto.

All eyes were on Naruto now as he just stared at the floor. Suddenly his head shot up. "What are we waiting around here for?! Let's go already!"

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**'sigh' Another re-write, review it/PM me with comments/questions. Lord knows I've got things to say and there are things that I need to be told.**


	4. Memories

…**yays! (said in a sarcastic manner) It takes time to re-write things in third person. F.B. means Flashback.**

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Chapter 3: Memories

It was early morning in Kumogakure and a small sliver of golden sunlight was just dancing around her eyes as she lay in bed thinking out loud schedule for the day. " 'yawn' ….m'kay. Let's see… today at 11:00am I have Rei coming over to help me get ready for my dinner engagement and….hmm. I have to write the final five chapters in **Love and War: Memories**. I can't believe that I'm almost done with the third book in the series. It just comes so naturally to me." She laughed to herself. "Oh wow, I can be so full of myself sometimes, but better full of me than full of other things like some certain authors who only degrade the art of literature……. ok, calm down Mika… today is supposed to be a happy day. I get to spend the morning with Rei. Whoa, speaking of which I really need to get up."

Mika shot out of bed and headed for the floor length curtains that covered the entire wall opposite her bed. With a huge flourish to push them out of the way, sunlight came pouring into the room through the floor length windows, revealing the luxurious nature that she was used to living in. The view outside was gorgeous as always. Her home, perched above the Village Hidden in the Clouds, was tucked nicely atop the cliffs, surrounded by lush forestry. She began to make her queen sized canopy bed with fresh sheets, only to feel compelled to jump on it afterwards. "Ahhhh….. There truly is no place like home."

She lay there for a few minutes, enjoying the freshness of her now semi-wrinkled sheets. "Ugghh. I have got to get up!", she shouted to herself, half-laughing at how silly she was being. Sitting up, she saw it. The small ivory white box that rests on the shelf across from the foot of her bed, holding the one thing that kept her from truly enjoying life, her old hitai-ate.

-F.B.-

Walking down the street with her new headband tied around her small neck, her head hanging lower than she usually tried to keep it. This should be the happiest day of her 7 year old life; she just graduated from the academy. Her parents were so proud walking next to her, but she hardly noticed them. All she seemed to be able to focus on were the whispers, the ones that only she, apparently, could hear.

"You know that a freak like her only graduated because her brother is the Hokage."

"Oh I know! And they made our children go to school with it."

"If it were up to me that 'thing' would have been put out on the street a long time ago."

"What are they thinking making it a ninja? Someone could get hurt, it's just plain unsafe."

"She's a disgrace to the village."

When she arrived at the Hokage's tower and saw her brother, she broke from her parents and leapt into his arms. "I am so proud of you little sis! Just yesterday you were a tiny little bug zapper and today you are a ninja! I love you so much." 'sniffle' She had started to cry. "Oh don't cry Sparky.", he said trying to comfort her. "I love you too big brother.", she replied, not letting go of him.

-End F.B.-

It's that damned headband, that damn symbol, which haunts her. _Every day I say that I am going to throw a chain around that box and dump it into the ocean. But damn it I just can't bring myself to do it. Why? 'mental sigh' I know why. I don't want to let go._

"M'kay! Shower time! ", she shouted to bring herself out of it, up off her bed and over to the huge master bathroom that was attached to her bedroom. Oh yes, what a sweet life it is.

-P.O.V. Change-

As the team got closer to the Village Hidden in the Clouds, the peculiar fog, that covered much of the terrain, seem to slowly dissipate; giving way eventually to a gate that was guarded by two sentry ninja.

"Finally, I can see my nose again. That fog was unnaturally thick.", remarked Sakura, who was acting kind of goofy.

"No, it is not unnatural. We have climbed significantly in altitude, we just passed through clouds that we usually see high in the air.", replied Sai, with his creepy/fake/desperately trying to be real smile.

"Oh." All she was really trying to do was, make Naruto react to something…. anything. He had been quiet for almost the whole trip. He wasn't sad or angry. He was thoughtful, which was incredibly strange, even though everyone knew what he was thinking about.

_Kakashi-sensei said that she was in her late 20's and that she had, had the Rokubi sealed in her when she was a baby… just like me. I wonder what she is going to be like. Will she be murderous like Gaara was, or sad and lonely, or did she ever overcome this burden and get to live like a normal person? I have so many questions for her. Will she even want to answer them?_ If only Naruto knew how many questions he really would have for her and vice versa.

"Alright everyone, look sharp, we're coming up on the main entrance to the village.", spoke Kakashi.

"Halt,", boomed a guard, "what business do you have here?"

"We are Konoha ninja searching for a long lost relative of someone in our village. We think she might be here, so we would like a look around. Here are our papers.", Kakashi spoke , handing the guard their documentation.

"Very, well. Just don't bother the Raikage and his guests; he is having important meetings all day."

"Not a problem. Come on guys."

The group walked into the village. A majority of the buildings were white and brown, but some showed more color. Though the village is hidden by clouds, inside the city walls, the sun shone like there was no tomorrow and it just made the village glow and look so inviting.

"The village has grown since the last time I was here.", commented Kakashi. It was true; what used to be a relatively small village in comparison to the other 4 great villages, was now at least 4/5ths the size of Konoha; making it larger than the Sand Village. Nearly a decade of peace had allowed the village to prosper.

"Oh my gosh! This place is gorgeous!", remarked Sakura.

"Yes it is.", replied Kakashi. "Ok, Sakura and Sai go search together, Yamato and Naruto go together, and I will go by myself. We'll meet back at this fountain in 3 hours." Everyone nodded and split up. _Huh? Not a word of complaint coming from Naruto. Well, he'll probably have Yamato running around like crazy before long. He'll want to be the first to find her._

-Mika's P.O.V.-

She was in her bathroom wrapped up in just a towel, humming to herself; she was trying to comb her wet hair, straight, when the comb snapped in half. "Well now, that's a bad sign. I'm not running late am I?" She looked over at the clock. 10:20 a.m. "Nope." _I still have 40 minutes before Rei is supposed to get here_. She finished with her hair, now a nice dry puffball of blonde hair reaching down a few inches below her shoulders. 10:30am. Still wrapped up in a towel, she went digging through her closet for something presentable. _Rei will want me to wear something really nice. Probably a kimono. Eecchhh! I hate kimonos. Then again I will be dining with some really fancy people, don't want to look like I came in off the street._ "Here we go, this looks nice." She pulled out a blue floor length kimono that had a beautiful oriental design on it which she laid it out on her bed. It was plenty long enough to cover her 5'11" height. _Yeah, Rei will approve of it._

-Ding-Dong- The doorbell chimed. _Huh? It's 10.., _looks over at clock_, :40 in the morning. Rei is usually incredibly punctual. She must be excited or something. _"I'm coming!", she shouted downstairs.

She rushed downstairs, still in her towel, thinking that Rei had come early. Opening the door with her eyes closed and smiling, she shouted, "Good morning, you're early Re…!", eyes now open, "Whoa! You aren't Rei!"

"Umm, no. I'm sorry, but my name is Sakura and this is Sai.", the pink haired girl pointed to the pale boy behind her and to her right. "We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions."

She had already noticed the headbands on them. Shivers went up her back but her face showed no sign of distress, I guess ninja training was good for something. In an instant, hundreds of thoughts and scenarios must have passed between her ears.

_Dear God they've found me. But why? I've been gone for so long and I haven't used my abilities, they should have listed me as M.I.A. presumed dead by now. These kids are too young to know my face. Actually, anyone from Konoha wouldn't recognize me. It has been 15 years, I look entirely different. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Does the Raikage know they are here? If things get bad I can run to him. He doesn't like it when people bother his guests. It will buy me some time to run. The Land of Waves isn't such a bad place. They would welcome an author of my caliber to their town. _

"Uhh...sure. Come on in. My name is Yoshida Mika, but Mika is just fine."

* * *

**For anyone that didn't catch it; Mika is Hana, from the prologue. It's the basis of the whole story.**


	5. Thank God for Fame

Chapter 4: Thank God for Fame

"Thank you for taking the time to speak with us Mika-san." The pink-haired kunoichi was very well mannered, but not to the point of annoyance like all of those rich aristocrats that Mika had been used to.

"Oh, it's no problem.", she replied, "Here, have a seat on the couch. I'll be right back. I've got to put something decent on." She smiled weakly, but still sincerely.

She ran upstairs and changed into a knee length white skirt with a blue tank-top. Quickly grabbing a regular headband for her hair, she rushed back downstairs. _Let's see… they don't seem to know who I am just yet. They probably don't care. So as long as I play it cool, I shouldn't have to worry. Besides the odds that they are here to look for Hana...me...well, they must be astronomical._

"Now then, what can I help you with?" Mika gracefully took a seat next to Sakura.

"Well, we are ninja from Konoha and we believe that a woman from our village might be living here. You wouldn't happen to know anyone by the name Namikaze Hana, would you?"

_Oh… My… God… I am so fucking screwed! _"No, I'm sorry. I have never heard of anyone by that name. Is she one of your village's ninja?", she replied with a slight, hardly noticeable irk in her eye.

_Why is she making that face? She might know something_, thought Sai. He had noticed her eyes.

"She was, but about 15 years ago she left.", replied Sakura.

"Well I would speculate that if her profession was being a ninja, then maybe you should check with the Raikage. He would keep a record if any new ninja came to this village."

"Oh, well, we assumed that she didn't want to be found so she wouldn't have reported to the Raikage."

"Well, if she didn't want to be found, then I seriously doubt that she would be seen around me. I think that I am moderately well known.", Mika replied, and inwardly quite proud of herself for thinking of such a good reason for them to stop questioning her. She was kind of famous, with two books on the bestseller list!

"How so, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I guess my books must be too long to keep your attention.", she laughed. "I wrote the **Love and War** books."

"Oh my gosh, you're that Yoshida Mika!", gasped Sakura.

"Yea, have you heard of me?"

"You're like my absolute favorite author of all time! I can't believe that it didn't click when you told me your name!"

"Ha, that is hil-ar-i-ous! Hey, it's always nice to meet a fan. Would you like to see a sneak preview of the 3rd book? It's upstairs in my notebook.", she spoke hurriedly, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible from the object of their search.

"Yeah, could I really?! That would be awes—"

Sai broke in, "I am sorry but if you don't have any information for us, we really must continue our search." The pair stood up and began to make their way to the door.

"Oh that's too bad, perhaps another time Sakura? How long do you think you will be here in Kumo?"

"I don't know. I guess it depends on how thoroughly Kakashi-sensei wants us to search for her."

_W-who? Kakashi…rare name… she must be talking about Hatake. Oh my god, he was one of my brother's students. Would he give up searching for me if he thought I was here?_ "Alright well, if you have any free time tomorrow, feel free to come by and I'll let you read the first chapter. I guess you can't today because you have to search and I have got to get ready for an evening with some big-headed, aristocrats… uhh… I mean prestigious patrons.", she said laughing.

Sakura, who was also laughing with her, replied, "Ok, then maybe tomorrow if I can."

"I'll look forward to it. Bye, I hope you find who you are looking for.", Mika called after them as they left. "Not.", she halfway snickered to herself and halfway reassured herself.

_'sigh' That was too close. If their sensei really is who I think it is then I might actually be in trouble. I doubt that he would recognize me but still, better safe than sorry. It would be best to avoid every one of those ninja…oh...but I invited her over. Damn it. Aw, I'll just cross the bridge when I come to it._

-Back with Sakura and Sai-

"Sakura?"

"Yea, Sai?"

"That woman, she seemed distant, didn't she?"

"No, why do you say that?"

"It was something in her eyes. They just seemed to be hiding something. It almost reminded me of myself."

_Everyone knows you're a spy, Sai._, she thought to herself. _No need to make it blaringly obvious._ "Well, we did catch her at a bad time, and she has a manuscript of her new book that probably needs to be kept secret, so maybe that is what you saw."

"Hn… What is this woman, Hana, supposed to look like again?"

"Average height, Blonde hair, Blue eyes. I know what you're thinking now, but Mika has amber colored eyes and she's pretty tall. Plus, it is true that she is a fairly-famous author, how many ninja do you know who write bestsellers? Hey, I wonder if she will sign a copy of her book for me."

"Well if you count the sannin Jiraiya."

"Eeckkk! No! That does not count as writing. That...that...is just…eecckkk!"

-Mika's P.O.V-

"Oh Rei, I am so glad that you are finally here!", Mika hugged her.

"Gosh, I didn't realize that my presence made you so happy, Mika-chan."

The two of them laughed for a bit. It was nice for Mika to see her friend; it made her believe in her life again. Since those kids had been there questioning her and all, she couldn't help but feel like some sort of a fake. Rei was shorter than Mika and she had blue eyes with jet black hair. She acted silly a lot of the time but that's what made her lovable.

"Ok, Mika-chan, what do you want to do now?"

'Grrrrrrrrrrllllll', Mika's stomach growled. "Ughh… isn't it obvious? I'm starving!"

"What? It's 11 o'clock. What have you been doing all morning?"

"I had some unexpected visitors, so I ended up skipping breakfast. Here, help me do my hair and my nails and then if you could, be a doll and go get me some ramen?"

"You know you really do eat too much of that stuff. But since I am such an amazing friend, I guess I can manage that."

"Aww… I knew there was a reason that we were friends. Come on. I picked out this kimono to wear and I know that you are going to love it."

* * *

… **ya' know, I had like 45 complete chapters posted. This is only the 4th one. New readers review! Old readers, let me know you came back!**


	6. A Slight Mix Up

**Raggle-Fraggle… I think I'm getting a headache from redo-ing a 45 chapter story… Raggle-Fraggle**

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Chapter 5: A Slight Mix-Up

A full 2 hours later… "Who would have thought that your hair would have taken so long to put up?"

Mika was sitting in the dining room with all kinds of bobby pins, barrettes, curling irons, and hairsprays strewn about by her, rather determined, friend. If she thought she was hungry two hours ago, well now she thought she knew what it was like to be starved to death. Her hair looked amazing of course. It was up in a curly bun with a few loose strands that casually hung around her face. Casual is a deceptive word, it took forty minutes alone to make them look like that.

"Can you please go get me some food now?", she asked timidly, her hunger draining away her will to breathe.

"Oh sure thing Mika-chan. What did you want again?", asked Rei.

"Ramen. Don't care what kind, but not veggie. I need meat. Please hurry. I don't think that I have more than 10 minutes to live.", she responded while slowly placing her head on the table, careful to not disturb Rei's hard work.

"Right…. I'll be back soon."

-P.O.V. Change-

'Yawn' Kakashi was sitting at the fountain waiting for the rest of his team to arrive, reading his usual literature of choice, when Sakura and Sai walked up.

"Hello sensei.", Sakura greeted him.

"Hello, you two. Did you find her?" They shook their heads no. "Aww… too bad. I did."

"Good.", replied Sai.

"So where is she?", Sakura asked.

"Last I took note; she was in a two-story house up on the cliffs."

"Huh," Sakura crossed her arms. "That was one of the first places we looked."

Naruto walked up, followed by Yamato. "We asked over 500 people and not one knew anyone named Namikaze Hana. If she is here, she is really good at hiding!", shouted Naruto.

"Obviously not that good because Kakashi-sensei says that he already found her.", replied Sakura.

"What did she look like?", Sai asked.

"She doesn't look like the description that the Hokage gave us." Kakashi looked up, "In fact, there she is right now." He pointed to a restaurant where a woman with shining blue eyes and jet black hair was walking out, carrying a large bag of food. Naruto ran straight at her determined to see her up close.

"Naruto, stop, don't!", Kakashi shouted after him.

Jumping right in front of her, he not quite shouted but was certainly loud, said "Hey." The poor girl was startled and almost dropped her food but Naruto caught it. "Sorry I scared you."

"Don't worry about. It's not like I didn't see you coming. I guess I thought you were going to stop sooner was all."

Kakashi and everyone else caught up to where they were. "I'm very sorry for his actions ma'am. " Turning toward Naruto, "I am sure that he is very sorry."

"Oh no, it's fine really but I'm in a hurry. You see my friend is going to die if I don't get her some food quick.", she said this without breaking a smile and looking very serious.

"Die?", Naruto asked.

"Well… that's what she told me. In fact, 6 minutes ago she told me that she only had 10 minutes left to live so I've only got 4 minutes left to save her life.", she couldn't stop herself from laughing after this last statement. "Oh, wow, sorry. Did you really think that I was serious? No, gosh no. She is just a crybaby. She won't complain about anything except when she is hungry, and then you can't shut her up until you feed her. The poor thing is laying on the dining room table probably crying her eyes out right now." , the woman explained. "Now if you don't mind I really am in a hurry. She has to leave in an hour and a half to the Raikage's mansion and I can't let her eat in her kimono. She said that today she has been having bad luck and I don't want to risk her staining it."

She pushed past the group before turning around realizing that Naruto had her food. "Haha. I think if I don't bring that back to Mika, she just might cannibalize me.", said the woman as she picked the food out of Naruto's arms. "Bye!", she yelled as she ran off towards the cliffs.

"She was awfully talkative.", remarked Yamato.

"Runs in the family.", replied Kakashi. However, in the back of his mind something was off. _Hana would talk, but not so randomly._

"I guess you were right, Sai. Mika does know the Jinchuuriki.", Sakura stated with an air of disappointment. "I was really hoping that she wasn't lying to us."

"Who's Mika?", asked Kakashi.

"Yoshida Mika, she is the woman who lives in the two-story house up on the cliffs. We talked to her this morning. She was real nice, but Sai said that she seemed to be keeping something from us.", Sakura replied.

"You don't mean the author, do you?"

"Yeah, she wrote the **Love and War** books. She's really good. How did you know that she was an author?"

"Her's are the only books to outsell Jiraiya's books."

Anime sweat drops instantly formed on everyone's forehead. "Of course, how could I have been so blind.", Sakura sarcastically retorted.

"So are we just going to let that lady that we ran into just now, run off. I mean after seeing us, won't she try to flee the village like she did from Konoha?", Naruto asked.

"That lady has a name, it's Rei.", noted Sakura.

"How do you know that?"

"We talked to someone that knew her.", she continued a meaningless conversation with him before being cut off by Kakashi's hand telling her to stop talking.

"In response to your question Naruto, it's possible that she might try to do that, but to do that she would have to come back down from the cliffs. So why don't we just get something to eat and wait for her to come back instead.", smiled Kakashi as usual.

"Hmmm… Sounds good to me!", Naruto shouted back.

Sai nudged Sakura in the arm, giving her a look. "Ughh..fine just quit with the creepy look." She turned to face her teacher. "Kakashi-sensei, I think I should tell you about Mika, when Sai and I questioned her."

"Why?"

"Well, Sai and I, particularly Sai," she rolled her eyes. "Think that maybe you got them mixed up, Rei and Mika. We think that maybe Mika is the Jinchuuriki and Rei isn't."

-Mika's P.O.V.-

The front door slammed closed and Mika looked over to see Rei walking in with her ramen. "Just so you know, I died two minutes ago. Not that you cared or anything."

"Oh please.", Rei responded while serving her a bowl. "I would have been here just in the nick of time, but a group of leaf ninja decided to say hello to me."

'cough' 'cough' "What!?", she managed to get out between choking on her ramen and trying to breathe. 'cough' 'gasp' 'cough'

"Yea, one jumped in front of me and said 'Hey' and then another, taller one said how he was sorry that the other one jumped in front of me. Then I said a few things and then I picked up the food and took off here."

Wiping her mouth she looked her in the eye, "What did they look like and what exactly did you say?"

"Is everything alright Mika?"

"Fine, please answer my questions."

"Alright, well, there were five of them and--"

"Five!"

"Yea, and let's see, the one that jumped in front of me had blonde hair and he had blue eyes, then the one that apologized for him was taller and had spiky gray hair that was tilted sideways, he also had his headband covering one of his eyes." Rei scratched the back of her head. "Ya, know. Now that I think about it he seemed like the leader."

"And the other three?", she begged impatiently. _Yeah, I'm aware of what Kakashi looks like. What about the others?_

"There was a girl with pink hair, a pale boy with black hair, and an average looking guy with brown hair."

_Sakura and Sai… are they on to me? Who could the other two be? _"What did you tell them?", Mika asked again between bites. She was almost done with her ramen.

"I said that I was in a hurry and that you were a crybaby."

'cough' She started to choke on the last of her meal. "You mentioned my name?"

"No…wait, no, yeah I think I did. Why, did I do something wrong?"

"No, I guess not.", she said wiping her mouth. "The pink haired girl and the pale boy were my unexpected visitors this morning. I thought that I had managed to answer their questions satisfactorily, but I don't know anymore."

"Well if it's any consolation, when I was practicing with my throwing knives this morning, I thought I saw one of them watching and I would have sworn that same one followed me up here at eleven. Not to mention that, I think that I passed the pink girl and the pale boy on my way up here. So maybe I might be more interesting to them than you are."

"No, that's not possible." , Mika joked with her. _Ninja's like to play with knives. Maybe they think that she is me. She has black hair, but hair could be easily dyed that way. It's unlikely that they would think that my eye color changed. This isn't good. If they think she is me they might try to test her. I don't want to risk her getting hurt._

"Hello…Hello, anyone home?", Rei was snapping her fingers in Mika's face trying to bring her back out of her thoughts.

"Huh? What? Stop that, it's annoying."

"Alright no need to be grouchy, I did just feed you after all."

"Rei, go with me to the Raikage's mansion."

"Huh? But I thought you had to be especially invited."

"Lord Genjo owes me one; he'll get you in no problem. I don't want you separated from me with these leaf ninja hovering all over the village."

"Are you sure that nothing is wrong?"

_'Mental sigh' I think I have to tell her._ "Rei…. There is something really important that I need to tell you and I need you to understand why I haven't told you in the past. What I'm about to tell you, I haven't told a soul. Do you understand me?"

Rei's eyes grew wide and she almost instantly replied. "Yes. Now tell me what's wrong. It has to do with those ninja doesn't it?"

"Yea,…" 'sigh' "Ok, here it goes…."

-Twenty Minutes Later-

"Oh My God! You're a ninja from the leaf, you ran away when you were 13, your real name is Hana, you think that those ninja think I am you, and they are looking for you?! And by 'you' I mean 'me'." Rei sat panting.

"Basically… Are you mad at me now?"

"What! No! Come here you poor thing!", Rei cried grabbing Mika. "Now come on. You have got to get dressed and then I have got to get dressed."

"I'm sure that I have something that you could wear upstairs."

"Great, come on.", she told her as she lead Mika up the stairs to the bedroom.

"Uhh, hey, did you really tell them that I was a crybaby? Because I'm not."

* * *

**Crybaby, eh? Well, I guess I'll admit that I'm being kind of a crybaby over my story, which took me 7 months to create, was removed… But seriously, I wrote 45 chapters and then they take it down. Why couldn't they have done it at 10? If I supposedly breaking the rules, I must have been doing it at chapter 10 just as much as I was at 45. O.k. I promise I won't bitch about this anymore. I'll just finish reposting all 45 chapters and then continue on with the story like this horrible, despicable thing never happened. New readers review, old readers let me know you came back!!**


	7. Recognition

**Hmmm… though I promise not to change the gist of the story, I really am making quite a few edits in the dialogue. (I think more than 5 constitutes a lot) It's kinda nice getting a chance to fix some of the parts that I think are just a bit OOC for my OC. (hehe, all these acronyms are silly, eh?)**

* * *

Chapter 6: Recognition

"Are we ready to go?", Mika asked Rei.

"As ready as we'll ever be!", she responded while linking arms with her and marching forward to the front door.

Mika was in her blue silk short-sleeved kimono with a simple white diamond necklace that just draped around her collarbone. Her make-up was also simple; some midnight blue shadow and pink gloss on her lips. A pair of dangling diamond earrings finished off the look, and it was stunning. Rei was just as jaw-dropping. Mika had already sent word to Lord Genjo and he had agreed to escort Rei into the mansion. She was in a black long-sleeved kimono with red flower accents decorated all over it. She wore charcoal eye shadow with deep red lipstick, a single ruby necklace, and a pair of onyx and ruby stud earrings.

"Fair warning, Rei, Lord Genjo can be a little… exuberant at times, so be ready. He'll probably hang around us for most of the night."

"Night? What are you talking about? It's 2:30 in the afternoon."

"Yeah, well these things last for freaking ever. Dinner is real early usually at 4 and then everyone loiters around in the parlor for hours, bullshitting about things that are really pointless and that they know nothing about. Then there is a late dessert around 9 and then you loiter around some more until the more distinguished guests leave and then you can leave yourself. That is usually by 10, thank god. So, yeah, he'll be there all night with us."

Opening the door Rei said, "After you…Hana."

"Thank--", catching the change, "Please don't call me that. It's been Mika for the longest time, that is who I am now.", she gave her friend a puppy dog face.

"Aww… I'm sorry. I just still can't believe it!", she said closing the door behind her and walking down the path. "My best friend was a leaf ninja and she was the sister of a kage!"

Pinching her arm, Mika reprimanded her "Hush up! I'm serious, if any of what I told you slips out, not only will those leaf ninja have definite proof that I am who they think 'you' are, but also the Raikage will probably be pissed that I didn't tell him what I was."

"Ouch, ok.ok. I know to stay quiet. Let me go." She let her go and continued down the path to the village. Once they made it to the village, people started to stare. "Wow, we must look amazing. Look. No one can take their eyes off of us.", Rei squealed.

"Don't forget, if all of these people are looking then the leaf ninja are looking too."

"Hey, that wouldn't be too bad. The two older ones were kind of cute."

"Yeah, cute in the way that if they find out my secret, they will chain me up and drag me back to Konoha and I will never see anyone ever again." Mika had a permanent scowl on her face.

"Oh would you chill out and stop being so negative.", Rei, verbally slapped her. "Stop talking about the whole thing starting right now, ok Mika?"

"Fine, you're right." She looked around and noticed a rather lavish and excessive stagecoach. "Hey, look over there, its Lord Genjo. He'll give us a ride the rest of the way." She waved over to him and he stopped his carriage.

The doors flew open to reveal the ever expressive Genjo. "My fair Ladies! What are you doing walking in the street, someone might try to steal such beautiful flowers.", the Lord announced. "Come, come. Get in, get in."

-P.O.V. Change-

From inside the restaurant the quintet could easily see the street that lead to the Raikage's mansion, and Naruto was watching intently.

"I'm still not entirely convinced that Mika is who we are looking for.", stated Kakashi.

"Well, just how good of a ninja was Hana?", asked Yamato.

"She was talented, always a year and a half behind me. She did make it to Chunnin rank just before she disappeared."

"Then it stands to reason that Mika is Hana.", responded Sai, "A smart ninja in her position would, instead of hiding herself, create a new person to act as a front; and what better than a figure of moderate notoriety. She's been hiding in plain sight for years."

"But those eyes, I distinctly remember that Hana had blue eyes.", Kakashi again refuted.

"Maybe she is using an appearance jutsu like Lady Tsunade uses.", offered Sakura.

"It's possible. And I suppose that, that Rei woman was a little too talkative."

Yamato looked at him, "I thought that you said talkativeness ran in her family?"

"Kinda." He shrugged his shoulders. "Her family was outgoing, but she wasn't much of one to talk to strangers. She had always been more of the clever type, her words always had substance."

"I change my vote to Mika.", Naruto muttered while still looking out the window.

Everyone looked at him; they hadn't realized that he was even listening to the conversation or that there was a vote of any kind.

"Alright then, we'll stop her and try talking with her on her way to the Raikage's mansion."

"We can't.", replied Naruto.

"Why not? She wouldn't be expecting us.", Sakura stared at him.

"Because, she is in a carriage with a Lord surrounded by Cloud ninja.", he replied emotionlessly. "She knows that we are here for her." Naruto was deep in thought_; Maybe we should just leave her alone. She seems to have adjusted just fine to life. She's even being escorted to the Raikage's mansion by a Lord….but a mission is a mission, and if we are supposed to bring her to Konoha then we will._

As the carriage rolled past, Naruto and Mika made eye contact. _Yep, she definitely knows who we are and why we are here._

-Mika's P.O.V.-

Her attention drifted from the conversation in the stagecoach and turned to the scenery that passed by outside the window. At that moment her eyes locked with one of the leaf shinobi from inside a restaurant. But something was off. It was a combination of things. _That hair, that headband, those eyes, they make him almost look like--_Her attention was drawn straight back to Rei.

"Mika! What are you doing leaving me hanging here! Tell this man that I am right and that he is wrong, 'A swallow cannot carry a coconut' end of story."

"Actually if it's an African swallow it might be able to. Sorry.", she told her misinformed friend point-blank.

"That is ridiculous!"

Mika giggled at Rei's exasperated tone. "No, it's physics."

"Ahh, my sweet ladies! While I could never tire of your playful banter, we have arrived at our destination!", the lord exclaimed.

_Here goes nothing. _Mika thought to herself.


	8. Unwelcome Guests

**I improved part of a conversation and the flashback in this chapter.**

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Chapter 7: Unwelcome Guests

Mika had hardly touched her dinner. Calamari really wasn't her dish of preference and she had just stuffed her face with ramen a while ago. The older ladies just thought that she was being polite and lady-like, not gorging herself like 'so many of the younger people do'. Stupid anorexic old wind bags; that's what they are.

_Wow, every time I'm invited to these things and I think 'it won't be that bad' and then I get here and it sucks._ Mika was lounging in an armchair only halfway listening to some trust fund baby about his country retreat in Bird Country. But scenes of her best friend and a moderately annoying acquaintance were drawing her main attention.Typically, Lord Genjo was loud, but Rei got along with him great. It kind of seemed that the lord had a crush on her.

After everyone moved to the parlor, she nudged Rei in the arm, "Aww. How cute!"

"What's cute? Where?"

"You and Genjo. I've never seen you flirt so much in my life."

"Oh, be quiet! I am not…. But, do you think he actually likes me or not?"

"It's really obvious. But hey now, you are coming home with me tonight. We are going to be busy warding off ninja."

"Yeah, yea. I know." She waved off Mika's comment before it dawned on her. "Hey! I thought I said no more 'ninja talk'."

"That was until I saw the ninja spying on us from outside." Mika smiled at the window. Even though she couldn't really see the ninja; she could tell that they were there."

"How do you know that they aren't Cloud ninja?"

"Cloud ninja would be looking out, to protect us from things trying to get in. These are looking in at us."

Grabbing Mika's shoulders, Rei told her, "Now come on, so long as we are in here, they wouldn't dare bother us. So I am going to go sit next to Genjo-kun and you are going to mingle and impress these old people with your intellect. I know you must have some, right?", she poked Mika hard in the forehead.

Laughing she replied, "Ok, I guess, if I have to."

As Rei quickly made her way to Lord Genjo, Mika managed to slip into the conversation with the Raikage and some members of the council. What she heard shocked her.

"Yes, it was finally confirmed last week.", started the Raikage. "Sasori of the Sand was killed in a battle between Elder Chiyo of the Sand and a Leaf ninja."

"Which Leaf ninja, do you know who?", asked one of the higher ranking council members.

The Raikage nodded, "It was a young girl, and I believe that her name was Haruno Sakura, a chunnin."

"Pft," one of the other council members scoffed. "It makes you wonder if the Akatsuki are as strong and terrible as the reports make them sound, if only a Chunnin and an old woman could take one down."

But Mika knew better. Akatsuki were ruthless, unstoppable monsters. It takes an extraordinary person to be able to put up a decent fight; and fate alone on their side if they want to win. _Well, well. Tsunade didn't just send any old group of ninja after me, did she? I can't believe that sociable pink haired girl helped take down Sasori. Unbelievable, and yet, poor Sasori. He was always so determined. I actually liked him. And a replacement for Sasori …I wonder if 'he'll' finally give himself a ring._

-Outside the village-

Perched up in a tree were two dark robed figures, watching the village from their vantage point. One had long blonde hair and only one arm; the other wore a strange mask that showed only his right eye. Standing up in the tree they spoke.

"So Leader wants us to send a message?", the one with the blonde hair asked.

"Yes, Dei-chan. That is what Tobi heard too."

"You know, it is really annoying when you talk about yourself in the third person, un."

Tobi either didn't or pretended to not hear. "Can Tobi pick who gets to hear the message? Please, Dei-chan?"

"No. I'll pick."

"But Leader said that Tobi could pick.", Tobi whined.

Deidara whipped his head around and faced the child-like annoyance. "When did Leader tell you that?"

"When Leader gave Tobi a picture of who's supposed to get the message."

"A picture! Let me see it, un!" Deidara struggled with Tobi, trying to get the picture from him. It just ended up getting torn to shreds.

"Great, look what you did! Now how are we going to know who to give the message to?"

"Tobi is sorry, Dei-chan. But Tobi remembers what the pretty girl looked like. Tobi could recognize her!"

"Alright, let's hurry up and get this over with." They started toward the village; no one noticing their presence.

"What did she look like, un?"

"She was pretty, Dei-san.", Tobi replied with, what could be assumed, a smile.

'BAM' Deidara hit his shorter partner on the back of his head.

-Outside the Mansion-

"Kakashi-sensei, how much longer is this thing going to last? It's already 9:20. We've been waiting for over six hours!"

"Stop complaining, Sakura. You're being worse than Naruto. It will end soon enough. Look, some people are already leaving the front entrance. Go look and see if she is among them."

She went to the front of the building where Yamato was, as she was ordered. Naruto was in the back and Sai and Kakashi were on the remaining two sides.

A second group of distinguished guests followed out by the Raikage, left the building. "Hmm. Still no Mika or Rei. When are they going to come out?", Sakura said out loud to no one in particular.

Sai was watching the windows of the mansion, watching to make sure that either one of the girls didn't try to evade them, when he thought he heard some footsteps below him. When he looked down, all he saw was a blur of two figures, rushing the mansion. He made the signal, still unsure of what exactly he saw. The other four rushed over to him.

"Where is she?", Naruto demanded. Waiting for six hours had made him incredibly anxious.

"I didn't she her. At least, I don't think I did."

"Then what is it?", Kakashi asked.

Sai pointed to the corner of the building. There stood two figures in trademark Akatsuki cloaks.

_This isn't good. Are they here for her?_, thought Kakashi.

Before anyone could take another breath, !!.BAM.!! CRASH!!. Followed by screams coming from inside the mansion. Half of the building was gone and the power to over half the village was out.

"Wh-what do we do?", Sakura just stared at the rubble.

"Work our way from the ground up. Avoid those two cloaked men; also we only have maybe 15 minutes before this place is swamped with Cloud ninja. Search for her—dead or alive. Go.", Kakashi replied._ You better not be dead, Hana._

-F.B.-Kakashi P.O.V.-

Hana was sitting in the middle of the training field, not paying any attention to the fighting going on around her. She was reading a book on water jutsu, while her brother trained one of his students.

"Minato-sensei," he spoke to his teacher, "I'm really not comfortable with Hana just sitting here while we fight around her. She's going to get hurt." He was standing next to her. She was still reading.

"There are two things wrong with what you just said.", Minato replied as he walked over to where they were. "One, on a mission where you have to protect a client, they are going to sit there and you should try to avoid them while preventing the enemy from harming them. Two, I would be shocked if you could even lay one finger on Sparky, here.", he said pointing down to Hana.

"She's only just became a genin. That wouldn't be a fair fight."

"Life's not fair.", Hana replied unemotionally, not looking up from her book.

"Come on Sparky, get up and show my student here what you're made of." Her energetic older brother prodded her.

"Mom said that I'm not supposed to fight unless I'm training or on a mission.", she replied, again not looking up from her book.

Kakashi started to snicker at his teacher, getting told off by his little sister. "Well, I guess that I win by default.", he laughed out.

"I beg your pardon!?", Hana said finally looking up from her book.

"Ha. Now you really pissed her off. Hey, sis, don't fight for the next 2 minutes. I'm going to go get Jiraiya. This is going to be good." poof Minato was gone.

"Huh?", he stared back at the small blonde.

"To suggest that you win by default implies that I forfeit the match. I don't ever quit, boy."

"'Boy?', I'm almost two years older than you, punk."

"Physically, yes; mentally, no."

Something about her tone of voice set him off. "You know, I don't usually like to fight girls, but I'll make an exemption for you." he said snatching her book from her hands.

Her eyes narrowed and she slowly stood up.

poof Minato and Jiraiya were back. "Ok, Sparky. Show him what you got."

"Just don't overdo it. We don't want him too hurt.", added Jiraiya.

"Give me back my book.", Hana asked the irritatingly, smug young boy.

"Come and get it."

Hana made a few quick hand signs; he didn't seem to notice that the ground behind him had flooded slightly. "Last chance, give me my book."

"No. Fight.", he shouted at her as he jumped back and threw a handful of kunai at her. He landed back on the flooded ground as she threw electrified kunai to deflect the ones he had thrown.

"Goodnight, Kakashi.", she smiled as the kunai fell to the ground. ZZAPP 500 volts shot through his body. He woke up a few hours later with a killer headache and a smiling Hana towering over him in his hospital bed.

-End F.B.-

_Don't be dead._

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**Bum, bum, bum! Dramatic ending thought!**


	9. Crash and Burn

**Dance! Dance for me, you little monkeys!**

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Chapter 8: Crash and Burn

'Yawn', Mika just couldn't stop herself. It was 9:50ish and finally it looked like the first group of patrons was leaving. She was standing with a group of musicians while they talked about metronomes or something. She was only there because it was far from Genjo and Rei. They were all over each other and it was kind of an odd thing to see happen in plain view. She would say gross, but then she would just be acting jealous; which she of course wasn't.

She was ready to leave and didn't feel like waiting to be polite anymore, so she split up the two lovebirds. "I'm so sorry Lord Genjo, but I really must borrow Rei for a minute."

Before he could respond she was dragging Rei behind her, right past the Raikage who was escorting a second group outside. "Rei, I'm ready to go, are you?"

"Yea, but hey, I've got an idea. Why don't we spend the night at Lord Genjo-kun's estate? Those ninja wouldn't expect to even look for you there."

Mika looked at her and smiled. She was really smitten with that guy. This was weird because no one ever seemed to be able to handle more than a few hours of him.

"…sure, why not?", she replied, not able to say no to Rei's sweet blushing face.

"Oh, yay! I'm gonna go tell--!!.BAM.!! CRASH!!.

Mika was flung to the ground, some of the ceiling falling down on her. She had been holding Rei's wrist but had let go in the blast. She thought she heard some screaming, but with the ringing in her ears she wasn't sure. Just laying there for a few seconds, she looked around. There were several other bodies on the floor, some cringing here and there, others were still and unmoving. Mika didn't see Rei anywhere, so she started to crawl out of the wreckage. Slowly, she stood up; the ringing still in her ears, when she saw little explosions going off near people that had also begun to stand up. _What the hell is going on?_, she thought, still not fully able to grasp the situation. "rei….Rei…where are you…", she took a deep breath, "REI!!".

"There she is Dei-sempai!", Tobi told Deidara, he pointed toward Mika's back as she shouted for Rei.

"Huh?", she turned around and faced the two robed figures. The screaming had stopped. Everyone in the room was silent. She couldn't process it at the moment, but everyone, except for herself and the two standing in front of her, was dead.

"Where's Rei?", she incoherently asked the two.

"Turn around, un.", the taller one said. He turned to Tobi, "Doesn't she look kind of familiar to you?" Tobi just shrugged his shoulders.

Mika turned, and instantly wished she hadn't. Almost 14 feet from her, lay Rei. She wasn't moving. "REI!!", she shouted as she dashed to her side. Besides being disoriented with a mild concussion, Mika was completely unharmed, though she was sure that the Rokubi had something to do with that.

"Rei, hey, get up. Please get up. Pl-please Rei, please!", she started to sob. Kneeling by her fallen friends side, Mika kept her back to the robed men. Squeezing her shoulders and checking her pulse she kept trying to make Rei get up. "Why Rei?, Please get up! Why won't you get up?" 'sobbing, sniffling' "I thought you wanted to go to Genjo's. You have to get up. Come on!" She kept crying, laying her head and arms across Rei's stomach.

"She's awfully sad, Dei-sempai.", commented Tobi.

"Well, duh. We just killed her friend there, un."

"Tobi will go give her the message now. Ok, Dei-sempai?"

"Yea, I'll meet you on what's left of the roof. Be quick." Deidara was almost saddened by the sight of Mika's weeping, but the scene of destruction from his 'art' kept him somewhat cheery.

Tobi walked over to Mika, a sobbing heap. Her dress was torn and covered in dirt, her hair was completely trashed, and since she had started crying her eye make-up was running down her face.

When she noticed that someone was standing over her, she looked up. She was breathing heavily but, sensing this presence she tried to compose herself; she had only felt like this once before in her life.

"Hello, Hana.", the robed man greeted her.

"Hello, Madara.", she responded. "What do you want?"

"Power, wealth… control. You?"

Looking down, Mika began to sob again. "I-I want my friend back."

"It is unfortunate that she died. But I have something to discuss with you."

"Shut up.", she grumbled, still some whimpering in her voice.

"What is done is done, now listen to me.", he ordered.

Slowly she stood up from Rei's motionless body, glaring at him. "No.", she coldly responded. "I thought we had a deal, Madara. I stay out of the way of anything, and when the time came I would be the last Jinchuuriki to be sacrificed, and I would go willingly! No one had to get hurt! No Fight! But you obviously broke that arrangement, so don't you dare tell me to do anything!"

He grabbed her shoulders and stared at her. "Dear, Hana. I didn't plan on killing anyone here tonight. But circumstances have changed." The way his hands were holding her shoulders, it felt like he was trying to comfort her.

She could feel that shock was starting to set in, and Madara could tell too.

"Listen to me, Hana. You can't stay here anymore; I can no longer hide your presence here. You have to go to Konoha. There, I need you to help the Jinchuuriki there become strong enough to be a fair match against my descendant."

Shock had set in. "But what about Rei, I can't leave her here like this."

Madara got an evil look in his eye. "Who made her like this?", he asked like a parent questioning a child.

"You?"

"No, I didn't do any of this. Deidara did."

"Where is he?", she asked. She could no longer focus; she felt rage and anger starting to boil inside of her. The Rokubi was going to take full advantage of this opportunity. Her concussion was a bit more serious than mild and she couldn't focus enough to restrain the monster.

"He's on the roof. Hurry, before he runs away." With that, Madara slipped away from her, disappearing into the shadows.

Mika ran as fast as she could to the roof, passing three people on the way up. There was a sudden burst of energy as she made it to the roof. She was standing behind Deidara; silent enough that he didn't hear her at all.

"What is taking Tobi so long, un?", he muttered to himself with his arm on his waist.

'BOOM' A huge burst of thunder and lightning shook everything for miles around.

He instantly turned around to see Mika. But he didn't see her. Instead he saw a horrible creature. She had an unnatural yellow-white glow emanating from her, her hair flying in all directions, her nails had turned to sets of claws, her teeth became fangs, and trailing from her solid black eyes, were markings like bolts of lightning, leading below her ears and down her neck. Sparks of electricity we visibly jumping around her, and two rigid tails flashed and flickered in the darkness.

There was no one here that she wanted to spare from her rage. At least, so she thought.

"So… you like to blow shit up, do ya? In all honesty, you did a really crappy job. I'll show you how it's done.", she nonchalantly spoke to Deidara.

With a swipe of her claw, five bolts of lightning shot at him. He dodged and jumped up onto a clay bird he had made. The place where he was standing was now nothing more than a mound of ash. The bird started to fly off, but she just laughed at it. Her eyes shot up to the sky and lightning strike after lightning strike came down to the earth.

-P.O.V. Change-

"Yamato, do you think you can stop her?", Kakashi asked not taking his eyes off the transformed woman.

"She doesn't have a necklace like Naruto, but I can still try.", he nodded and was about to, when one of the lightning bolts hit Deidara's bird straight though the neck, completely decapitating it. As Deidara fell to the ground, Mika quickly jumped to the ground after him.

Deidara was dusting himself off when he heard Tobi whisper to him.

"Dei-chan, Tobi found a way to escape. He's a good boy. Come follow Tobi."

"Hn. I was wondering where the hell you were.", Deidara sneered at him. "I was almost killed just now!"

"Tobi is sorry that he didn't come sooner, but the scary lady scared Tobi."

"I'm having a serious talk with Leader about you being my partner, when we get back."

The two disappeared into the forest, before Mika made it to the ground.

She was breathing heavily standing there like a wild animal, just staring at the forest waiting for something to strike out at.

"Now's your chance, Yamato.", ordered Kakashi.

Wooden pillars rose out of the ground, encircling Mika. She whipped around and let out a roar that sounded like thunder. Naruto was standing the closest to her, just watching with his eyes wide open. Mika was about to lunge at him with her claws, but the suppression of the Rokubi had already begun. Her roars turned to screams before she collapsed on the ground. Kakashi walked forward and kneeled next to her.

Naruto turned to Sakura, "Was that what it was like with me?"

"…worse.", she replied.

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**Voila, it only took 20 minutes to edit this one. :) P.S. The underlined text is the Rokubi speaking through Mika.**


	10. Heading Out

**Loads of altered text. Much smoother now. Much more realistic.**

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Chapter 9: Heading Out

Mika felt a warm hand on her cheek and instantly she reacted to it. Her eyes started to flutter open; she had a killer headache and then she saw, what she assumed was, a smiling Kakashi leaning over her. _After all these years, I can still recognize him._ She tried to sit up, but failed.

"Hey, now. Take it easy, Hana."

Hearing the old name stung slightly. "…Mika… My name is Mika.", was all she could say as he helped her sit up. "What happened?"

"What do you remember?"

The events of the past 20 minutes flashed through her mind. "…Rei is dead." She paused as she stuffed that pain away to be dealt with later. "I hate the Akatsuki… and then nothing.", she looked around. "What did I do?"

"You scorched a good amount of the village, almost killed Deidara, and then we stopped you."

"Did I hurt anyone, besides Deidara?"

"No, and you really didn't manage to hurt him much. He just fell to the ground from about 4 stories up. If you're lucky, maybe he twisted his ankle or something."

Mika rubbed her eyes. "Damn…"

The Raikage walked up to the two of them. Mika looked up with her eyes starting to brim with tears. "You have until sunrise to get out of my village and out of this country, fiend."

"Sir?", she was slightly confused by the request.

"Be glad I am showing you such mercy out of respect for the years you spent here. Do you understand me?", he condescendingly looked down at her.

"Yes, sir….I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize, it's in a monster's nature to destroy." Turning to Kakashi, "Be sure to take this creature with you when you go, I don't want it doing any more damage.", he stated as he walked away. Kakashi just glared at him.

"Come on.", she tugged at his arm, already mostly recovered from her 'episode'. "I have to get some of my things at my house."

As he helped her stand up, the others walked over.

"What now, Kakashi-sensei?", Naruto asked, though he was looking at Mika intently.

Mika started to laugh and they all stared at her. "What?", she tiredly let out.

"What's funny?", Sakura stared at her, shocked that she was laughing at a time like this. Laughing was a defense mechanism of hers; whenever she felt fear, sadness, or vulnerable in the least, she would laugh and make some kind of sarcastic remark.

"It's just weird hearing you call Kakashi, sensei. Him a teacher, ha, that is rich. Alright.", she took a deep breath. "I've got 6 hours to get out of the Land of Lightning and I'm not even packed."

Everyone turned and started toward her house, "So, do ya'll have names or something?"

-Later at Mika's house-

The group made it to her house and she glided halfway up the stairs before turning and calling behind her. "Sakura?"

"Yes."

"Could you help me pick something out? I haven't dressed for traveling in a long time and I don't know what is appropriate anymore."

"Sure.", she smiled and followed Mika upstairs.

Once in her room, Mika pulled out a scroll used to pack a lot of things in small spaces. "Just dig through everything.", she told the pink-haired girl. "The Raikage will probably burn down this building in the morning anyway."

Mika grabbed a few outfits and dresses that she just couldn't live without, along with some sheets, some money, some jewelry, and her notebooks that she wrote her books in. She turned and pulled a black cloth bag out from under her bed, taking great care to make sure she didn't forget it or to let the girl behind her see it. Sakura started to talk.

"How can you be so, I don't know, o.k. with everything that just happened?"

"I'm not o.k. I just know that there is no point in crying or striking out at anything anymore. Even though going through that rage is incredibly painful, it's a release." Mika tried to reason as much as she could. The real truth was that she would just push painful thoughts to the back of her mind in order to avoid them.

"Is that true for all the people like you?"

Mika turned around to look at her. "People like me?"

"Naruto has one of those bijuu in him as well. And I've seen him look similar to the way you looked back there."

The blonde turned back away from her. "I'm sorry that you saw me like that. I'm usually pretty good about controlling it, I guess I was just so overcome….", she stopped for a moment. "I don't know how it makes anyone else feel. I've never hurt anyone that I cared about, but I would image that would feel horrible."

Sakura thought about the time one of Naruto's tails struck her on the arm. "Here, I think this would look good on you.", the young girl dropped the thought and returned to her previous mission.

"Huh? Are you sure?"

"Yes, it's simple yet rugged and will show off all the right things.", she smiled at her.

"Alright, but I think I'm going to wear a jacket with it." Mika changed into the new outfit; a halter-top that came from under her arms, instead of the middle of the shirt, and had straps that wrapped around the whole top, a pair of shorts, light-weight black combat boots that went just past her ankle, a leather belt hanging loosely around her hips, and a thigh-length trench coat on top of everything, left open of course. Her hair was up in a half ponytail, enough to keep it out of her face.

"O.k., now did you want to wear your weapons on your left or right leg?"

"I'm not a ninja."

"But Kakashi-sensei said you were." Sakura moved forward with a spare weapons pouch.

Laughing awkwardly, Mika moved back, keeping Sakura and the sharp objects at an equal distance. "Emphasis on 'were'. I was, but not anymore."

"Why not? He said you were good."

Mika smiled widely. "Really? He said that?"

"Yea, so why are you not, anymore?"

"Well… I haven't used any weapon in a long time and just two hours ago was my first fight in that same amount of time. I'm just not anymore." She thought for a second, "Is that why, Tsunade wanted me back in the village, to be a ninja?"

"I don't know. Kakashi-sensei said all the information on this mission is on a need-to-know basis. So I don't need to know, I guess."

"I wonder if I qualify as a person who needs to know.", Mika said as she went to the bathroom to grab her comb. _Oh yeah, it broke…hn, bad luck. That's for damn sure. _She started to laugh silently to herself. A knot formed in her throat. _Oh God…Rei._ She quickly shouted to Sakura, "Hey, I'm going to me a minute, you can wait downstairs for me. O.K.?"

"Are you sure?", she asked walking toward the bathroom. The door was still open.

" Y-Yea. Now go!", Mika managed to stammer out, her eyes clouding with tears.

Sakura stopped in her tracks; she could see a corner of Mika's reflection in the mirror. "Alright…. Just don't be too long. I'll be downstairs if you need me." She had felt that kind of pain before, that loss.

Mika didn't respond to her. She was too focused on trying to keep it together and not break down completely with her still watching.

After Sakura shut the door to the bedroom behind her, it all came flooding out. Mika collapsed to her knees, her arms straight out in front of her, digging at the tile of the bathroom floor. Short deep breaths followed by irregular sobbing, "no,no,no." 'gasp' "I-I should have done something….what! What could I have done!?" She argued with herself. Blaming and defending her actions over the previous twelve hours. "I was so stupid. I shouldn't have asked her to go with me. I should have left her alone. It's my fault she's dead. I killed her."

Sakura silently walked downstairs to the living room and sat down in a chair. Her face was paled because she could feel Mika's pain as if it were her own.

Sai and Naruto were in the kitchen; Naruto looking for food and Sai just watching him, trying to understand. Yamato was in the dining room, just sitting at the table, his head in his hands looking bored.

Kakashi was poking through Mika's book collection in the living room; he seemed surprised by some of the choices that were in it, "So what's taking so long?", he asked Sakura.

She just looked up at him, her eyes telling him everything; That Mika was upstairs having a total breakdown probably contemplating suicide and she didn't know what to do.

He nodded his head and looked up at the stairs. _Should I go see if she's alright?..._ _She sent Sakura away. Still…._

Mika continued to cry, now pulling her arms around herself and leaning against the doorway between her room and the bathroom. She reached up and took down her hair. _I don't want them to be seen like this._, she thought as her hair fell around her face, shrouding her in a mock curtain. "I'm so weak. I couldn't save her. I couldn't save my family and I couldn't save her.", she looked up and stared at the ivory box on the shelf. _I've spent so much time trying to eliminate the anger inside of me. That driving force that made me a ninja, and now that it's gone all I am is this pitiful excuse for a human being… and I'm not even that. I'm a monster, strong enough to ruin my life but too damn weak to save those who mattered to me. _

_Yea, you are a monster. A girl after my own heart, or at least the girl whose heart I live in…. hehe._

_Shut up, you!_, she screamed at the voice inside of her head. _Where did you come from? Huh? Answer me! I thought I got rid of you. _

_Please…. You can't get rid of me. Madara-sensei made the two of us work so well together. Then you stop talking to me all of a sudden for eight long years; you lock me up inside your mind, all alone. That wasn't very nice. Tonight was fun though, wasn't it? I finally got the chance to show that I still got it._

_Go to hell, you piece of shit bijuu! _

_Only if you come with._

"What's in the box?"

Mika whipped her head around shocked that she didn't hear anyone come in. Kakashi was standing a few feet away from her, looking at the ivory box. "Huh?", her voice cracked out.

"That box, you were burning a hole through it with your eyes. What's in it?"

She took a second to focus on the new conversation, "…Namikaze Hana. Everything she was and didn't want anymore."

"Fascinating.", Kakashi commented as he walked toward the box.

"What are you doing?", she asked confused. "Hey, stop!" She shot up from the floor rushing to the small container.

He had already grabbed it and was about to open it when her hands clasped around the ivory torment.

"I just want to look, I swear.", he pleaded with her.

"No, I don't want to see it."

He reached forward and tilted her head up, catching her eyes with his one. "You're lying. If you didn't want to see, then why were you staring at it?" She just looked at the box again as he slowly slid her hands off of it. "Now, I'm going to open it, o.k.?"

She nodded slowly with a sniffle. Since he walked in the room she had stopped crying. Her eyes fell to the floor; she had a sudden feeling of shame and embarrassment over this tiny object.

He opened the box; she looked back up, and would have sworn he was smiling. "Wow,", he remarked, "Hana hasn't aged a day."

Mika giggled but abruptly stopped herself. _Why am I laughing? More importantly, why am I questioning the fact that I'm laughing? I should just be glad that I'm not alone anymore._ She muttered to herself, "I'm not alone."

"No, you're not.", he was looking at her with a soft expression.

She reached into the box and pulled out the headband. Staring at it she thought, _This must be the reason for everything that has happened. Maybe I'm supposed to go back. Try again._ "Just so you know,", she started, "my name is Mika." She spontaneously wrapped her arms around him. "It's not going to change back.", she said smiling.

He dropped the empty box and wrapped his arms around her; returning the embrace two-fold. She couldn't hear it, because her ears were stuffed up from the crying, but his heart was beating faster. "You ready to go, Sparky?"

Staring slightly up at him, "Yes, yes I am." She stuck the headband in her bag, not quite willing to wear it.

"We're going to have to hurry, to make it out of the country in time. Are you going to be able to keep up?", he asked as the two of them walked down the stairs.

"You know, I don't know. I haven't run through the trees in forever. I wonder if I still know how."

"I'm sure you do, but just in case someone will have to carry you.", he said implying something.

"Oh, well. I'm sure Yamato could manage my weight.", she replied as she carelessly walked past him. "Oi! Let's go!", she shouted from the living room. The boys started to trickle into the room, while Sakura glided next to her.

"Are you alright now?", she timidly whispered in Mika's ear.

She faced Sakura and gave her a reassuring hug. "Yes, I'm back and better than ever.", she whispered in response. She let her go and gave her a smile. "See."

"Good, I'm glad."

"I don't mean to rush you or anything but we need to leave. Now.", Kakashi stared at Mika.

"¡Vayamos ya!", she pushed past everyone, knocking over a glass vase given to her by the Raikage, and making her way to the door.

"What?", Naruto stared at her.

"Ha… Let's Go Already!"

* * *

**Kinda sad, eh? Sometimes I wonder if I'm a better angst/despair writer than I am of humor/comedy. I really enjoy both, but angst/despair is so much more detailed and beautiful. While the humor/comedy is pretty simple… but it's funny and usually pretty clever so does that make up for its simplicity? IDK, IDC. Review!?**


	11. Ablities

**I think it's now safe to assume that even if you are an old reader, you should still read these rewrites. I keep adding to the scenes and dialogue. Like I promised before, the main storyline ****will not**** change, but I'm adding bits and pieces that I think are going to strengthen the relationships in the story. Plus I'm making it more coherent. There were parts that seemed dull and out of place.**

* * *

Chapter 10: Abilities

_Oh dear lord God! My feet! My calves! My back! My heart!_, Mika screamed out in mental anguish.

"Alright, we just passed the border, and there is the Sun.", Kakashi pointed to the horizon.

"Really, so soon?", Mika tried to sound disappointed but she still stopped running when the group reached a river.

"Yea, we should rest here for a few hours."

_Few Hours! What the hell man! I freaking tired! I need 8 hours of beauty rest and another 4 for the ordeal I went through last night!_ "Great, and then we can keep moving.", she replied as she collapsed under a tree.

Kakashi started to order around the others, like to get firewood or some food or make sure we weren't being followed. He walked over to Mika's half conscious body. "So…how are you holding up?"

"Oh, I'm just peachy.", the sarcasm dripping off her words.

He tilted his head and winced at her sharp speech. _It would only be fitting to give her a proper reply_, he thought. "You look horrible."

She stared at him with a blank expression. "Well, jeez, no need to sugar-coat it, eh?" She took off her jacket and rolled it into a ball for a pillow so that she could lie down comfortably in the grass. There were some rocks but she was too tired to care how completely uncomfortable it actually was. Stretching out her legs briefly she yawned. "You know, I used to love sitting outside. It was my favorite part of missions, getting to go camping." She yawned again; this time deeper. "I guess I got too used to the comforts of…civilian… life." She was out like a light.

_Well, no need for you to suffer now. _He thought as he watched her subconsciously readjust herself on the uneven ground.

-A Few Hours Later-

"Are you sure she is going to be o.k. with that?", Sakura questioned skeptically.

"She said she was uncomfortable. But she seems happy now.", Kakashi replied, noting Mika's smiling, sleeping face.

"I bet she'll be mad and beat the crap outta you.", Naruto laughed very loudly.

"We're friends and she would never hurt me."

"Is that so?" Mika's eyes were wide open, staring him down. "Funny… I don't remember falling asleep here. In fact, I'm just about positive that I was asleep on the ground over there.", she said pointing to a spot closer to the forest. "But I'm sure there is a perfectly good reason for my being asleep here… on your lap, besides that at some point during your life you became a pervert."

"Yes, there are several good reasons actually."

"Please…. enlighten me.", she said glaring at him.

He briefly cleared his throat. "One: You were uncomfortable, Two: we made camp all the way over here, and Three: it wouldn't have been safe for you to be so far away from us."

She looked around at everyone just lounging around the campsite. "…You're still clever. I'll give you that. But seeing where I am right now, I wanted to ask you some questions."

"Alright." He nodded in a cool, uncaring manner.

"Your mission was to come and get me, but why?"

Kakashi gestured toward Naruto. "You are going to help him control the Kyuubi."

Mika rolled her eyes. "And why, pray tell, would I care." Glancing over at the whisker-faced boy, "No offense Naruto, but you're not my problem. I defected from Konoha."

"You'll care." Kakashi shook her slightly to regain her attention.

"Why?" She incredulously scoffed at his blunt statement.

"Can't tell you."

"Why?" Mika shook her head, not understanding why he couldn't tell her something as simple as a reason.

"Tsunade-sama will tell you when we get back home."

"Why?" Now she was just messing with him. _Hehe, its funny watching him squirm._

"Because she wants to tell you herself."

"Why?"

"Because she has a sick sense of humor."

She paused for a second. _A sick sense of humor? _"Why?"

"…. Stop asking 'why'."

"WHY?", she asked again in the most annoying way possible.

He just closed his eyes and squeezed his arms around her tighter; making it so she couldn't move.

Mika scrunched up her nose as she realized the dimensions of her chest had changed. "You do realize that I could electrocute you, right?"

"Do it!", Naruto yelled.

She sent a quick jolt through his arms, making them twitch and loosen up enough for her to punch him in the stomach as she abruptly stood up. He acted like it hurt, but she knew it couldn't have. It felt like she had just punched a brick wall. The kids just laughed at the little show.

"Hey, Sakura."

"Yes, Mika-chan.", she replied.

Reaching for her bag, Mika asked. "Did you still want to read the first chapter to my new book?"

"Ohmygosh! Yes!", the fan-girl squealed rushing to her side.

"If everyone is up, then shouldn't we get going?", Yamato asked.

"Yea, come on let's get moving.", Kakashi said, standing up.

Mika pulled out her notebook and handed it to the salivating girl. "Now, this is just a rough draft. It's not done yet. O.k.?" She was already on page two.

Yamato and Kakashi were walking in the front, Sai was behind them, and behind Sai were Sakura and Mika walking side-by-side, with Naruto in the back. Sakura was completely absorbed in the notebook. So the walk was quiet until Naruto caught up beside Mika.

"So you used to live in Konoha?", he asked timidly.

Mika grabbed his chin and made him face her. "Yes, and look up when you talk to me. Being indirect is a real pet-peeve of mine.", she said with a smile, letting go of him.

He smiled back and continued. "So, why exactly did you leave?"

"Well, my family died."

"Oh, sorry." He rubbed the back of his head. "What about your friends?"

"Well, one seems to have forgiven me.", she said pointing to Kakashi. "And the other, well, he's older and he couldn't recognize me the last time I saw him."

"That's it, two friends?"

"Best Friends from Konoha, yes; I have several other acquaintances all over this continent though. Now, why don't we talk about you some? Like, who are your friends?"

"Everyone in my village! Believe it!"

Mika stared at him. She just couldn't get over the fact that he looked so much like 'him'. It was driving her crazy. "O.k…. that's a lot of people. Do you have a favorite; a best friend?"

He looked away, "Yea, I did."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did he pass away?"

"No, he left. I couldn't stop him, and he left."

She was possessed to put her hand on his shoulder. For some reason, she wanted to comfort him. "So he's still out there?"

"Yep, and I'm going to bring him back!", he shouted. "I swear!"

"Me too!", Sakura piped up.

"I promised to help also.", chimed in Sai.

"Yes, we are all going to do our best to bring Sasuke back.", noted Kakashi. Yamato nodded as well.

"Uchiha?", Mika asked. _Didn't Madara say something about his descendant? What did he tell me? Damn it I can't remember, and it was probably important too._

"The one and only.", he replied.

_That's not true, _she thought. _Really, there are three. _"I heard about that kid. The Raikage said he was some kind of a genius."

"He is, he was using complicated fire jutsu straight out of the academy and Kakashi-sensei even taught him the Chidori.", Sakura seemed to be basking in the memories.

"Hn.", Mika tried and failed miserably at sounding interested.

"So, Naruto? What special techniques do you have?", she turned her attention back to him.

"Hehe… I'll show you!"

The group stopped walking and looked at him. Instantly there were hundreds of shadow clones standing around.

"Oh, just shadow clones?", she honestly asked.

"What do you mean, 'just shadow clones'? Look at how many of us there are!", they all shouted.

"Well, yes. In sheer numbers, that is impressive but not very efficient for a combat situation.", she intelligently observed. This seriously annoyed him.

"Fine. I'll show you 'efficient for a combat situation'.", he threatened. All but one clone disappeared, and that one disappeared soon after a blue sphere of chakra had formed in his right hand. She was in awe; not because it was a Rasengan, but because it was like staring at her brother. Her knees locked up and she was about to pass out. "How do you like this!", he shouted at her.

"Yea…that's….gr-…", she couldn't finish her sentence, so Kakashi did it for her.

"Great job, Naruto. Now can we keep moving, I would like to go home.", he told him while grabbing Mika's shoulders and stopping her from collapsing on the ground. No one else seemed to notice, thank god.

Naruto stopped and the blood started to come back to Mika's brain. "Thanks.", she whispered to her friend.

"Are you going to be o.k.?" He steadied her as she started to walk.

"Yea, yea. Just….tell me that you see it too. The resemblance I mean.", her eyes pleaded with him.

"Yes, there is a definite resemblance there.", he said looking away from her. "Let's go."

Mika went back to walking on her own, but she didn't take two steps before Naruto jumped on her case.

"So what can you do?", he asked with some attitude; obviously convinced that he had her beat.

"I write novels.", she responded cleverly.

"That's not what I meant!"

"Oh, you mean back when I was young and was a ninja? Well, I did a little bit of everything, particularly lightning and earth element stuff."

"Don't those two combine to make something else?", Sakura commented absently, still entranced by the notebook.

"Yea, but I hadn't really put much effort into practicing the metal element. It was just easy enough for me to use electricity." _Liar, liar, liar…._, her conscience screamed at her.

"Metal element?", Naruto asked.

"Yea, it's complicated and I don't feel like explaining, really." He gave a 'please' look. She gave in. "But in short, metal counts as anything that comes from the ground that isn't dirt." He stared at her with a completely lost look on his face. "O.k. iron, copper, bronze, gold, silver, and precious gemstones for example."

"Hn.", he responded.

She waved him off. "Whatever, it may not sound cool, but it's very lucrative."

"You used it to make money?", Sakura sounded stunned.

Mika laughed in a mockingly, malicious way. "It would take me some time, but yea. How do you think I could afford the house I had in Kumo? It was fun to disguise it. I would buy some land in the middle of nowhere, use the technique to fill the ground with gold or silver, and then send some miners to mine it out. I just looked like a lucky investor.", she laughed again at her sly ways.

"So have you gotten any better at that diamond technique you were working on last time I saw you?", Kakashi asked.

She took a deep breath. _Don't lie, don't lie, don't lie. _"No,", _dammit, I lied_ "diamonds are really hard to manipulate. I needed lots of the Rokubi's chakra to use it and it was safer to just not try. I didn't want it to get out of control."

"Why don't you try to at least make a diamond?" He asked somewhat challengingly.

She shrugged her shoulders and stopped walking. "I guess I could." She reached down and picked up a rock and cupped it in her hands. Mika started to focus her energy on the rock, trying to compress and heat it into a diamond. There was a bright glow coming from her hands with sparks shooting out of the space between her fingers. _O.k., if I screw this up correctly…_ _You shouldn't hide what we can do. That would be deceitful._

"Ah!", she dropped the now white hot mass; half from wanting to purposefully screw up and half from the shock of hearing the Rokubi's voice. "Son of a Bitch! That hurt!", she shouted bringing her hands to her chest.

"Language.", Kakashi seemed to be scolding her.

"Oh, so you're a pervert and a prude.", she laughed that nervous laugh that people make when they are guilty, but her hands throbbed with pain again. "Ah! Damn it that burns." Looking up at him, "Don't you dare say anything. I'm in pain."

"Here, let me see.", Sakura reached out and took her hands. She started to heal them.

"Cool, you're a medical nin. That is really convenient.", she smiled at her.

"Yep, Tsunade-hime taught me everything I know.", she gloated a bit.

"So Sai? What is your special talent?", Mika faced him as Sakura still worked on her hands.

"My paintings come to life."

"Cool.", she nodded, noticing a small ink mouse on her shoulder.

"Alright next question, Naruto.", she resumed the original conversation.

"Go for it!" He was up for any question.

"What is your favorite color?" Everyone rolled their eyes.

* * *

**I'm actually happy that I got to rewrite these early chapters now. I think I got better over the course of my writing this story and now I get to bring these first attempts up to par with the later chapters. Reviews? Comments?**


	12. History Lesson

**Yay, I'm one chapter closer to catching up to where I was two weeks ago. Only 35 more to go…**

* * *

Chapter 11: History Lesson

The group made camp again. Just one more day of walking and they would be back in Konoha. The encampment was in a clearing in the forest that had large boulders scattered around. The conversations were mundane and in all honesty Mika only really cared what Naruto had to say, which was mostly a lot of nothing, unfortunately. Night came and everyone went to sleep, but she got up rather early in the morning; at least an hour before sunrise.

Sitting up, she looked around. Everyone else was sound asleep. She tip toed over them and climbed on top of a boulder facing the would-be sunrise. She thought she saw someone watching from the trees, but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. _Is this really what I want? Do I really want to go back? After all I've seen and been through, how can I go back and look them in the face? There is so much that they just can't ever learn about me. There's so much that I'm guilty of._

_What's with all of this 'I' stuff? We are in this together. It's only like that because you are making this difficult._

_Would you shut the fuck up! Everything that has gone wrong in my life is because of you. _Mika sighed heavily.

_Not everything. I couldn't bear to take credit for it all. After all, it was entirely your decision to leave our home._

_I couldn't live in Konoha anymore, too many memories. Too much pain._

_I was talking about our home with Madara and Itachi._

Mika recalled the more sinister details of her life with those two men._ ……of course you were….bastards, all of you._ Her thoughts were interrupted.

"Well, aren't we the early bird?", Kakashi asked her, while crawling up onto the rocks, perching beside her.

She scratched the back of her head, "Heh. Couldn't sleep. What's your excuse?"

"I'm just a light sleeper. I heard you tossing and turning, nightmare?", he asked.

_Yea_, she thought. _I finally remembered what Madara told me to do. 'Train Naruto and make him strong enough to be a fair fight against his descendant. Whether the descendant is Itachi or Sasuke, he didn't say. _"Yea, random bad dream about," _think…think…__Ooooh, I know!__ Shut it!_ "snakes."

"It will be alright.", he said patting her back. "It was just a dream."

_What does he want? _"So, pardon by bluntness, but I can tell you want something. What is it?"

He nodded. "I want to know what you have been doing all this time. Where have you been?"

_O.k. here goes, time to set up my alibi for all these years. _"I spent the first seven years traveling across the continent, writing short stories and poetry from what I saw."

The truth: _I spent the first month wandering aimlessly across the continent, then the next six years and eleven months under the tutorage of Uchiha Madara, a bastard son of a bitch that I hate and yet can't seem to break free of._

"Then I settled in Kumo and met an editor who liked my writings. He let me work in his print shop and he published my first couple of stories."

More truth: _Madara sent me away because I'm a genius and manipulated the situation to convince him to let me quit Akatsuki. It was an in or out thing. Kumo was the safest place for me, but I had to stop using any abilities I had. _

"Then I met Rei."

Last revealing truth …for now: _Because of her, I really did want to give up fighting all together. I just wanted to be happy and try to live peacefully. It just so happened that, that is what Madara wanted too; for me to stay out of the way and be a normal person_.

"She introduced me to an agent from a big publishing firm and one thing led to another and I had my first novel released. They had me go on a book tour, but I asked that I not travel too far from my home in Kumo and they were fine with that. I did however go to the Land of Waves and uhh…"

"What?", he was listening attentively.

"I uhh… met Jiraiya there."

"You're kidding? Why wouldn't he say anything to me about that.", he seemed genuinely upset.

"Oh, but he didn't recognize me at all. By this point I was 23 and he had last seen me when I was 13. I know you didn't recognize me either." Mika nudged him in the arm. "Sakura told me that you thought that Rei was me.", she laughed.

"Well, to be fair, I hadn't seen you at all during my search, so I didn't have you to compare her to. Anyway, continue."

"O.k. I met him that week at a bookstore signing and he was clueless as to who I was. He was heckling me because my book was selling faster than his. Talk about petty. Anyway, it'll be funny when I finally see him again. He might actually be remorseful, for at least a second, for being my literary adversary for all these years."

"I haven't read your books, but his aren't that bad you know."

Mika stared at him coldly. "Not that bad? His books, compared to mine, should be used to steady tables; and that is based on story structure, assuming he even had a good plot line."

Kakashi just smirked. "I noticed that you owned every one of his books. I take that you have you read them?"

Mika knew where the conversation was heading, but she had a good excuse. "Yes, unfortunately; I read a lot of books. He is my competition, however base and crude his books can be, he sells a lot of them and I need to make sure my readers don't become his readers.", she snapped.

"You may not like to fight anymore, but you still have that spirit.", he smiled at how adamant she was about her writing.

She laughed. "After that tour, I didn't do another. I stayed in Kumo, hung out with Rei, wrote the second one, kissed up to patrons, more to make connections than to make money, started the third book, and then ya'll showed up and whisked me away to Konoha. The End."

"The Beginning.", he corrected.

"Ah yes, life is a book and this is just the start of the latest chapter.", she mused. "What about you? What has your life been like?"

"Oh, well…" _Miserable at first when I thought you were dead, along with everyone else that I ever cared about. Thanks for that._, he thought. "I worked in ANBU and then I quit that. And then after years of sending back group after group of genin back to the academy, I found a team I could work with.", he gestured toward Naruto and Sakura.

_Wow, such an in depth description… __I know._"So I take it Sai and Yamato aren't part of the normal gang?"

"Sai replaced Sasuke and Yamato replaced me when I was in the hospital."

Mika gave a concerned look. Absence must truly make the heart grow fonder. "Why were you in the hospital, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I over did it during a fight."

_Again with the,' giving away too much information'._ _I know._, Mika and her own personal demon thought. The sun started to rise and the rest of the team, except Naruto, with it. "I guess we better get moving if we want to make it back by this afternoon.", she sighed not wanting to leave the rock.

"Yep.", was all he had to say.

She jumped down and went to wake up her dead brother's doppelganger. "Oi, rise and shine.", she kicked him in the side, gently.

"..'mumble'…I SWEAR I DIDN'T PAINT THE ROSES RED!", he hastily sprung up from the ground.

"O.k. Alice, I believe you. Now get up. We're leaving.", she walked away from him thinking how stupid this kid was almost always.

* * *

**Seriously, I never realized how short some of these chapters were. This one's like 1300. The later ones are almost entirely over 2000. Reviews? (Praise?...hint'hint'? Hate mail?...not hint'hint')**


	13. Truth and Consequences

Chapter 12: Truth and Consequences

"Oh My God! You're kidding me!"

"No I'm Not! It's still open!"

"I can't believe it.", Mika was stunned.

"Hehe. BELI--"

She covered Naruto's mouth; his catch phrase was irritating her more and more. He had just told her that the Ichiraku Ramen Bar was still open after all these years.

"That place always had the best ramen. Gosh, I remember when it opened. I could live off the stuff if Rei had let me. Kakashi, remember how much of that stuff I would eat?"

"At least three times a week, unless your brother stopped you.", he answered.

Her eyes doubled in size upon coming up with a wonderfully delicious thought. "Hey, I got an idea. Why don't we go there first and grab some lunch. It's just what I need to recharge after a long journey."

"Sounds great to me!", Naruto shouted excitedly.

"You have to go see Tsunade-sama first, Mika.", Sakura reminded her.

"Yeah, I guess so. That shouldn't take too long, right?" The gates to the village were in sight now.

"Actually, maybe you should go eat first, Mika.", Kakashi prompted. _After what Tsunade is going to tell you, you'll probably lose your appetite._, he thought to himself.

"Why?"

_Why does she always ask 'why'?_ He sighed resignedly, "Do you need a reason?"

"No, I guess not.", she was a little confused, but what the heck, she was starving. "We're pretty close now. Why don't I race you there Naruto? I'm pretty sure I still remember where it is."

"O.k. On three. One, two.--hey!" She had already taken a head start. The trek down here had helped her get some of her stamina back and she could easily out run him, with a head start of course. He went chasing after her.

"Kakashi-sensei, why did you let them go? You know that she is supposed to see Tsunade-sama first.", Sakura was confused.

"There is something about Mika that I think I can tell you now, seeing as how you're going to find out anyway." He had finished telling them Mika's story, or at least what he knew to be true, by the time they got to the Hokage's tower.

-Back to Mika-

"Ha, that brat is so slow!", Mika exclaimed as she walked into the bar.

"Can I get you something to eat, ma'am.", the man behind the counter asked.

"Uh….yes, actually." She stretched out her arms. The running had tired her out a bit. "I would like a bowl of miso ramen and go ahead and get a few bowls of whatever Naruto Uzumaki gets. He'll be here shortly and he said he was a regular here, so you would know what to serve him."

"Oh yes ma'am. He's our best customer." The man started another batch of ramen to boil, so that there would be enough to go around.

"Well, if it isn't Yoshida Mika.", a familiar but irritating voice boomed.

She rolled her eyes and looked to her right. Two seats down was Jiraiya. "Hola, Viejo.", her muttered contemptuously. _Oooooh, I say we kill him!__ Would you please shut up?! I'm not gonna kill him. He's just irritating, not kill-worthy._

"What brings an author of such 'high-caliber' to my neck of the woods.", he tauntingly spoke.

"Of all the gin joints in all the world, you had to be in this one.", she responded without looking at him.

"Oh, don't be so cross. You're the closest thing to competition I have in the market.", he cheerfully jumped one seat closer.

"Though our books compete in the same market, they are nowhere near being in the same league." _What the hell is taking Naruto so god damn long?!_ , she thought. _Take your time kid; if we wait long enough maybe she will kill him out of frustration.__ I'm going to ignore you from now on._

"Hey Mika! You cheated!", Naruto shouted as he took his seat, between her and Jiraiya.

_Oh Thank You God! I could kiss this kid! _"I didn't cheat; you just weren't too specific on the rules."

"Here's your food ma'am. Oh, and here's yours too, Naruto.", the man served the two of them with a smile.

"Sweet!", they both chimed in unison.

"Naruto,", Jiraiya questioned him, "I thought you were on a mission. Did you already finish?"

Before Naruto could open his mouth, because it was still full of food, Mika whispered in his ear. "Don't tell him anything. Good ninja keep their mouths shut until they talk to their Hokage." He winked his left eye at her, understanding to keep Jiraiya in the dark.

"Yes, pervy-sage I—"

'COUGH' Mika wheezed a few times. "D-Did you just call him what I think you called him?"

"Hehe, well his is!" The orange-clad ninja grinned ear to ear.

"Naruto! How many times have I told you not to call me that in public!?", Jiraiya whined.

Mika kept laughing as Naruto ate three more bowls of ramen. "Oh, wow.", she was wiping tears from her eyes. Jiraiya was still sitting there looking miserable. "That was a work-out." She let out a big sigh and turned to face Naruto who was starting his fifth bowl. "I will see you at that place, at that time, with those people. O.k.?" He nodded happily.

Mika turned toward the 'pervy sage' with a giggle dying to come out. "I will see you around old m-man." She started to laugh again just for looking at him. She set some money down to pay for her and Naruto's meals and walked away. "Bye.", she casually waved over her shoulder.

She wandered around the village some, noting several ninja near Naruto's age roaming the streets. There was a blonde girl who kind of looked like a pig, a boy who was riding a gigantic white dog and even this one kid in a green jumpsuit who reminded her of Gai. _Gosh, I remember Gai. He was always challenging Kakashi to something. 'sigh' those were the days._ The next thing she knew she was standing in front of the Hokage's tower. "Talk about a coincidence. My subconscious must be really curious as to what Tsunade wants with me.", she spoke out loud to herself.

She told the guards that Tsunade was expecting her and they led her up the stairs to the Hokage's office, not that she didn't remember the path well. She saw Naruto and caught up to him before he walked inside. "Hey, ladies first.", she joked as she pushed past him.

He laughed at her. "You think you qualify as a 'lady'?"

"You are a rude little bastard, you know that?" She turned her back to him and huffed. "And after I bought you lunch, how ungrateful."

"No no no! I'm not un…. grateful….. What's going on?"

The two of them were standing in front of Tsunade who was at her desk. Behind them was the group that went to Kumo and standing to the Hokage's right was Jiraiya; her left Shizune.

"Wait a second." Jiraiya turned to Tsunade. "What's with this? Why is she here?"

"That's Hana you idiot." Tsunade glared at him for being too slow.

"Hana? What? But I? That's….", he was regretting everything, if only for a moment.

"What, now you remember my face, you wish you had treated me differently? Maybe that just teaches you a lesson old man.", Mika shook her head, laughing. "So why exactly did you send ninja to 'retrieve' me?", she asked Tsunade.

The room was silent for a moment. Mika put her hands on her hips, "Well… I'm not getting any younger here."

"There is something that I think you have the right to know.", she responded.

"Spit it out already granny!", Naruto shouted. "I want to know too!"

"It's actually news for the both of you."

Mika cocked you head to the side. She was smart but in denial. _There is no fucking way. __Oh Yes There Is!_

Tsunade started, "Hana,--"

"My name is Mika.", she corrected the Hokage.

"O.k., then. Mika… you disappeared so suddenly during the Kyuubi attack all those years ago.", she paused.

Mika sighed, "Why do you have to bring that up?" She was becoming impatient. _There is no Fucking way. __Oh Fucking Yes There Is!_

She continued, "You were gone before it was discovered that there was a survivor of your family."

The color drained from Mika's face. _There Is No Fucking Way! __BURN!!_

"The newborn was used to contain th--"

"Shut Up!", she snapped at the woman and she shut up.

"What does this have to do with me?!", Naruto honestly didn't get it.

Mika slowly reached up and grabbed the collar of his jacket tightly. "How old are you, kid?" She had her head tilted down and away from everyone, her eyes covered by her bangs.

"Fifteen. Why does it matter?" He griped her hand and tried to free himself.

She let him go. "I guess it doesn't matter that much.", she muttered. Her eyes became narrow slits underneath the shadow of her hair. She directed her next comment toward Tsunade again. "Why are you telling me this now?" _What the hell is wrong with you!_, she didn't look at her in her attempt to hide the pain of her life becoming hollow.

"We didn't know if you were alive or not." She slowly stood up and reasoned with Mika.

Jiraiya started searching for words. "Mika, if I had known you were Hana, I swear I would have told you."

"Its fine, you didn't recognize me and I didn't make the recognition any easier for you by concealing my identity.", Mika's voice had become cold and almost robotic in tone. No one stood in her way, as she glided out of the room.

"HOLD ON A SEC! Where do I fit into this!?", Naruto demanded.

"Naruto, that woman there is your aunt on your father's side.", Tsunade blatantly explained.

Mika stopped walking when she said that. _I'm his aunt. He's my nephew, Nii-san's son. Why didn't I stay?_ _Because we were meant for bigger, more important things._ She continued out of the office, while Naruto stood there stunned, staring at her as she walked away. After she was out the door, Naruto jumped out the window in a different direction.

"Kakashi keep an eye on Mika. Sakura watch Naruto. That was nowhere near as fun as it was supposed to be.", Tsunade sighed, slumping back down into her chair. "I feel horrible now."

"They just need time to adjust, Tsunade-sama.", Shizune assured her.

"I hope you're right, I really do."

* * *

**34 more to go, my pretties. :)**


	14. Lost and Found

Chapter 13: Lost and Found

Mika was sitting on top of the face of her brother that was carved into the cliffs overlooking the entire village. Every time she tried to focus and think about what just happened, her mind would go blank. She was alone, and yet she wasn't. She knew Kakashi was watching her. He made his presence obvious; he wanted her to know he was there for her. The other presence she noticed, was barely perceptible in the trees of the opposite face of the cliff. It was the same presence that was present earlier that morning while she watched the sunrise. She didn't know who it was, honestly she didn't care, but it still made her put her guard up.

-Stranger's P.O.V.-

"The Copy Ninja and the Rokubi are here on the cliffs.", one voice spoke.

"Good, they are far from the Nine-tails Jinchuuriki.", a second voice responded. The being merged with the tree it was attached to and reappeared on the opposite side of the village, by a river that Naruto was sitting next to.

"He is far from help. You should attack now, Kazuku.", the being suggested.

"Good.", Kazuku started forward.

"Wait. I need a minute to pray.", a third figure interjected.

"Hurry it up, Hidan. Zetsu says now is the time to strike.", Kazuku growled.

-Mika's P.O.V.-

"Come sit next to me.", she shouted over her shoulder. "I don't like being alone, I just act like I do."

"I know.", Kakashi sat down next to her.

Words started to randomly spill out of her mouth. "Why did I just walk out of there? I should have, …I don't know, said something, done something, anything. I just left him standing there. I left him… again. I couldn't stand the idea of living in this village without my family; I didn't want to be alone while being surrounded with people who couldn't understand me, so instead I left to be alone-alone. A didn't have to hear the judgments anymore. But he had to grow up with them. I can't even imagine the pain of never knowing a family.", she started to rant some. "It must be better to have had a family and lost it, than to have never known the feeling of being loved.", she began to lose control of her words. "All those years I spent hating myself. I got over it because I convinced myself that there was nothing more I could have done to save them. And now, I find out I abandoned the only remnant of my family, to be ignored and shunned by ungrateful people. Without him, the Kyuubi would have destroyed everything, killed everyone." She stopped to take a breath. _Are you aware that when you stop breathing, that I stop breathing? Don't ever do that again!_

"He's o.k., Mika.", Kakashi said softly. She turned to face him. "He did have it rough, but he didn't become hateful or cruel. He strove to be recognized and he did that. He has made so many friends; they have become a sort of family for him."

"I should have been that family.", she was consumed with self-hate.

He stood up and started to walk away.

"Hey, where are you going?" _How can he leave me at a time like this? __He's a jerk,…duh._

He turned back around and knelt in front of her. "You are going to be fine, Sparky.", he patted her on the head. "Unlike you, Naruto might actually try to do something stupid that Sakura can't handle, so I'm going to make sure he's alright. Besides,", he looked behind the distraught Mika, "Jiraiya is here to make sure you don't try to kill yourself." He said the last part smiling behind his mask.

"You suck at comforting people.", she pouted.

"No, I'm great at it, you're just too hysterical to notice.", he said as he left.

_I'm not 'hysterical'. Maybe a bit upset… but geez,_ she thought to herself.

Jiraiya sat down next to her. "So…talk about irony, huh?", he awkwardly spoke.

-Naruto -

He was sitting next to a river, arguing with himself in his head. _Why didn't I chase after her? I should have said something, but what would I have said? 'Hey, I'm your nephew. We're family and everything is great!' She probably left because she wants nothing to do with me. Why am I so stupid? No even my own flesh and blood want to have anything to do with me._ Turning his eyes to the side for a moment, he saw Sakura sitting in a tree. _Do they really think I would try to run away or something? Like Mika?_

"Yo.", Kakashi walked up beside him.

-Kazuku and Hidan-

"You've wasted so much of our time. Now we have to fight three people. Not that it makes any difference, but still one on one is quicker. You can focus your attention on your opponent, now we have to divide our focus.", Kazuku scolded Hidan.

"Would you stop bitching like a little girl? It is a sin to fight without Jashin's blessing." Hidan stood up and began to walk forward. "Let's begin."

-Naruto-

"I'm not going to do something stupid, sensei.", Naruto's gaze never left the river.

"I didn't say you were." He sighed. _Just like her, consumed in self-pity._ "She is just as hurt as you are, you know."

"Then why did she leave?"

"Uhh… like I said, she's hurt. She found out the same thing you did. That you were missing something that you didn't even know you had in the first place. Come on, get up let's--" He heard something in the bushes, something fast. "Move!", he pushed Naruto out of the way, while pushing himself back.

'SLICE'-- Right where they had been standing was a severed hand attached to a black razor sharp string.

"Damn it, I missed.", Kazuku scowled. At the edge of the forest he stood; his arm outstretched showing stitches holding him together, the rest of him was covered in the trademark Akatsuki cloak. Next to him stood Hidan, who was staring at Sakura in the tree.

"Sakura! Go get help now!", Kakashi shouted at her. As she took off, Hidan didn't even attempt to go after her.

"There, now we are back to two, Kazuku.", Hidan smirked.

_Naruto is in no state of mind to fight. I can fend them off but for how long I don't know. Hurry up Sakura._, Kakashi thought.

-Mika's P.O.V.-

"Sorry.", she bluntly stated.

"If anyone should be sorry it's me.", Jiraiya answered.

"No, I'm sorry for everything; for running away, for lying to your face about who I was, for leaving the Hokage's office like I did." _For abandoning Naruto, for training with Madara, for letting him hide me in Kumo, for not coming home like I should have._, she thought.

"Everyone made some mistakes, but that is in the past now.", he smiled. "So what do you think of Naruto?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" The question startled her somewhat.

"I mean, what do you think of him."

_Thanks for elaborating._ She smiled thinking of Naruto now. "He's… funny, looks like his dad, acts, oh boy does he act, like his mom. Irritating but still sweet. Annoying but optimistic. Obnoxious but endearing."

"I thought that is how you felt. When I saw the two of you in the ramen bar I thought ' There he goes again, making yet another random friend.' I see I was right."

"Do you think that,… 'sigh' never mind."

"No, what?"

"Does he want to know me, now; as family?"

"That boy would want nothing more than to hug you and tell you how he is so sorry he didn't go and find you sooner.", Jiraiya laughed.

"Where is he?", she asked standing up.

"Over by the river; you remember where it is?"

"Yea, thanks old man.", she smiled and ran off in the direction of the river.

Turning the corner, she ran smack into Sakura. "Whoa, sorry. Hey where's Naruto?", she asked her.

There was sheer terror in Sakura's eyes. "He's at the river with Kakashi-sensei. Two Akatsuki members are attacking them, I was sent to get help."

Mika's jaw dropped. _No._ She grabbed the girl's shoulders, "Just down the street I saw another jounin. Tell him what happened. I'm going ahead."

"But you're not a ninja!", she shouted after her.

"The hell I ain't!", Mika shouted back. _That-a girl!_

* * *

**Woot! Mika's a bad-ass!**


	15. A Grand Entrance

Chapter 14: A Grand Entrance

Hidan had changed his mind and decided to hang back and let Kazuku play first. Kazuku had sent his razor strings in all directions. He seemed to be trying to keep Naruto distracted while he tried to kill Kakashi, for the bounty on his head no doubt.

_Where are our reinforcements?_, Kakashi thought as he desperately dodged the razor sharp attachments. He turned and looked at Naruto, _No, what is he doing?! _"Stop don't do that!", he ordered, but it was too late. Naruto threw a handful of kunai at Kazuku. They stuck in his side.

"You shouldn't have done that kid.", Kazuku snarled at Naruto. He sent his entire left arm at Kakashi, knocking him back a good 30 feet. Then he jumped forward and landed no more than 4 feet from Naruto. He raised his right arm and shot out one of his black strings. _Move! Move!_, Kakashi thought as he was struggling to his feet. _Please move, Naruto!_

Kazuku closed his eyes expecting the pleasure of hearing Naruto's flesh tear as the string cut through his chest, and hearing his screams of anguish as he tore out his still beating heart; but no screams came, no flesh tearing, no gushers of blood soaking the earth beneath his victim. Instead he heard the sounds of scraping, like his string was trying to cut through something impenetrable. He opened his eyes and saw something unexpected.

Standing between him and Naruto was Mika. Her left arm covered in a paper thin layer of diamond, had caught the string and wrapped it around her forearm. Her head was lowered, her hair covering her eyes from sight. "Now, you weren't about to hurt my nephew were you?", she asked in an uncharacteristically cold voice. _Kill the Bastard!_

"Who the hell are you?", Kazuku struggled as he tried to pull back his string from her arm. "I'm his aunt.", she raised her head and looked him in the face. His black cruel eyes looked deep into her now bright, shining blue eyes. "I'm his family.", she answered with a small smile. _God, you are so mushy!_

Kazuku scowled and quickly cut off the string that connected him to her. He jumped back to the other side of the river, thinking of his next move. _That woman was fast. She caught my attack and it didn't even hurt her._ "Hidan, come take part in this fight. Appease your god."

Mika dropped the razor sharp string and it took her protective coat of diamond with it. She turned around and faced Naruto. He stared, slightly up at her, with a big smile. She grabbed his shoulders and pleaded, "I am so sorry that I ever left you. I selfishly left the village before even entertaining the idea that maybe you had survived, but I'm here now. If you'll have it, I would love to be your aunt."

He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed tightly. "I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner."

She laughed, "That is exactly what Jir--Ahh!" He let her go as she clutched her right arm. Slicing straight through her bicep was one of Kazuku's strings.

"Don't you turn your back to me girly!", he shouted at her.

She fell to her knees; it had been so long since she last took a hit like that. It seriously caught her off guard. Kakashi jumped next to the both of them as Kazuku retracted his weapon, tearing through her arm in the opposite direction. She stifled her cries of pain; she didn't want to seem weak right now.

"Mika, get out of here. We can handle this.", Kakashi said looking down at the pale blonde.

"Yea right.", she laughed and clutched her arm tighter. "You and what army?"

"Me for starters.", smiled a big guy with a cigarette in his mouth.

"Asuma, how nice of you to come help us.", Kakashi acknowledged.

"Yeah, well, Sakura made it sound urgent. You take 'Stitches' there and I'll take the other one.", he headed off to face Hidan.

Mika looked up to see Naruto, staring at Kazuku, his eyes red with the Kyuubi's power. She grabbed his wrist, "Calm down. Fight him but don't lose yourself." He looked from his aunt's arm to her face. His skin was starting to burn her hand it was so hot. "You're burning my hand, but I'm not letting go until you calm down." He took a few breaths and his eyes returned to normal.

"He's gonna pay for what he did to you.", Naruto told her through still gritted teeth.

"He better.", she smirked. She let him go and he took off; attacking Kazuku with his most powerful attack. He completely tore through half of Kazuku's back. Suddenly Mika felt very cold, turning to look at her right arm; blood was flowing freely from the gaping wound. _Oh shit, _"He cut a vein.", she said out loud._ This isn't good; I'm going to bleed to death if I can't stop it. _Tunnel vision set in as she collapsed on the ground face down.

"Mika!", Kakashi reached down and checked her pulse. It was weakening as a pool of blood started to form; the ground couldn't absorb any more blood. _I have to get her out of here, but I can't leave Naruto._ He looked over to where Naruto was. He had completely exhausted himself lying on the ground, but Kazuku couldn't move anymore.

"Kakashi-sensei!", Sakura shouted as she arrived on the scene.

"Good, Sakura. Take care of Mika. I have to end this fight." He left to go finish off Kazuku. Mika was still conscious but lacked energy to respond to anything. Sakura turned her over so she could repair the arm. Mika's head fell to her left and she would have sworn she had seen Asuma fall down, but before she could focus, the darkness fell over her eyes. She heard so many things while in the dark. She heard Tsunade give permission to someone named Shikamaru to chase after Hidan_ Hn. So Hidan got away?_, Sakura said something about a blood transfusion, and then there was the dull sensation of someone carrying her off to only god knows where.

At, what her barely functioning mind could assume was the hospital, she felt a doctor open her eyes but she didn't see anything. The only thing that told her, that's what was happening was the feelings of warmth touch her frozen skin. She had been this close to death before, and it didn't scare her; it kind of pissed her off. _What the hell man! I just got a second chance to have a family and now I'm gonna die? No, fuck this! I'm gonna live, damn it! I am going to live. _

_You're god damn right we're going to live! You are so going to owe me one after this._

* * *

**Short, but sweet.**


	16. Ink

Chapter 15: Ink

Time passes differently when you're unconscious. Mika's eyes began to flutter open, she could smell citrus. _Mmmm… I love citrus._, she thought to herself. _Wait, citrus? Where am I?_ She opened her eyes more. _Hm…I'm in the hospital. Oh my god! _"Naruto!", she shouted. She started to prop herself up and her right arm gave way. "Gah! Son of a…mmmm.", she stopped herself from cursing. _Cursing is bad. Bad Mika bad._ The bandaging around her entire upper arm began to become saturated with blood. Sakura came running into the room.

"Oh Mika-chan! Don't move." She rushed to her side as she yelled for a nurse to bring her more bandages. "You can't put any pressure on your right arm; you'll tear your stitches.", she scolded.

"Sakura, look at me." She did. "Where is Naruto?", Mika was afraid of what the answer might be.

She just smiled back. "He'll be here any minute now, I'm sure."

Mika relaxed. "Oh thank god, so he's o.k.?"

"Yep."

So many questions were flying around in her head, but they all abruptly stopped when her eyes caught her right arm. "Holy….. dear lord, my arm!"

"Yeah, you're lucky we managed to repair the vein otherwise you would have died."

"Is it going to scar?"

"Most likely, sorry. But given the severity of the wound, you're lucky it's not going to look worse."

'sigh' "So, what happened? I want to know everything."

"Well,", she finished dressing the injury. "Kazuku, the one that did this to you, is dead. Kakashi-sensei killed him, but Naruto did most of the work." She paused, "Unfortunately, Asuma wasn't as lucky. While fighting the other one, he died."

"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry."

"But the one he fought didn't get away with it. Shikamaru hunted him down and killed him, so." Sakura let the words drift off.

"So.", Mika responded. She was never good with death. Whenever anyone died she never knew what to say. It was always so awkward. I mean, her whole family died and she just ran away. "How long have I been here?"

"Today makes it three days."

Mika's blue eyes doubled in size. "What now?"

"You've been in the hospital for three days now. Hardly any time at all compared to how badly you were injured."

Mika laughed awkwardly, "O.k. where are my clothes? I need to get out of here now.", she sat up, careful to not put pressure on her arm.

"You don't have any here. Your jacket was completely ruined and your shirt was stained beyond cleaning with blood. Naruto went to get you your new clothes."

"Please tell me he didn't pick them. Please." She closed her eyes in prayer.

"Oh of course not, I picked them out. You'll like them.", she smiled at Mika.

"Good." Naruto walked in through the open door. "Well, speak of the devil."

"You're awake!", he rushed next to the bed and then just stood there smiling.

"What? No 'Thank god you're ok' or even a hug?", she joked with him. "Come here." She reached up and pulled him down to her level, squeezing him as tightly as she could with her left arm. He laughed as she let go and adjusted herself, now sitting upright, on the bed. "Where are my clothes?"

"Oh, uh," He looked behind himself. "I forgot them.", he grinned.

'sigh', Mika leaned forward, her head resting on her propped up knees. This exposed her left shoulder blade.

"Awesome! What's this?", Naruto poked his aunt's back.

"Whoa! Is that an raven?", Sakura asked.

She turned her neck around to see what they were talking about. "Oh, that?", she laughed.

-F.B.-

Mika was panting from the day's training; training that started before sunrise and went non-stop until the sun set. It was dark out and the first stars were beginning to appear. Madera had her running, jumping, swimming, fighting, throwing, crawling, and any other form of training he could think of.

"Sensei, I'm finished.", she walked up next to him. He had her cut one leaf from every tree in the forest, not one more or one less.

"Good girl.", he patted her on the head. "Now I'll teach you something new."

"Sweet! That would be great!", she was so happy.

He just stared at her and she stared back. "Oh, sorry sensei.", the young Mika bowed. "What is it that you will teach me?", she asked in a calm, steady voice.

A small smile crossed his face, which was incredibly youthful looking for his supposed age. "I am going to teach you a summon."

On the inside she was ecstatic, but she didn't show a hint of it. "Yes, sensei."

He led her to an open field and sat her down. He sat across from her. "Very few people have ever learned this summon. None of these people are alive anymore." Mika nodded her head, taking in every syllable he spoke.

He pulled out a large scroll that was sealed with what looked like a feather symbol. "This is the contract with the 'Tori', the 'Birds'.", he spoke as he unraveled the scroll. "You will sign your name in blood right here." He pointed to a spot next to a name she didn't recognize.

There were only four other names on the scroll. Following his orders, she bit her right index finger and wrote her name on the scroll. "Good girl. Now you will be able to summon birds at your whim."

"Show me, sensei."

"First, in order to do this, you must make a small blood sacrifice. Those few drops of blood on your hand will do just fine.", Mika glanced down at the drops of blood still dripping from her finger. "Next, you place your hand on the ground and you focus all of your energy on that spot, thinking of bringing forth a bird."

She did as he instructed. A pattern of symbols formed on the ground, circling around your hand. There was a quick flash of smoke and standing where her hand had been was a large, black raven.

"Decent for your first try, I suppose. Watari,", he was talking to the bird. "introduce yourself."

Her eyes couldn't help but grow. The bird bowed to Madara-sensei and then started talking to her.

"Hello, my full name is Watarigarasu. Watari is will do just fine. Did you summon me?"

"Y-y-", she cleared her throat. _Oh my god, a talking bird! _"Yes." Staring at the talking bird, "You can talk, I see."

"Watari is the son of Roc. The most powerful bird you will be able to summon. Roc just so happens to be a Thunderbird, complimentary to the bijuu you house.", Madara told her.

"Why didn't I summon Roc? No offense, Watari.", she said feeling the bird deserved her respect.

"None taken, Father doesn't appear for anyone. You have to earn his presence.", the raven replied.

"The more chakra you focus into the summon, the stronger the avatar you will receive.", her teacher explained to her.

She was listening, but she had begun to scratch Watari under his beak. He was just too cute to ignore. "And I am tired right now. Imagine if I was at my full strength, sensei. Maybe then I could summon Roc?"

"You're alright, doll.", the bird complimented the blonde. "I'll put in a good word for you with my dad."

"Dismiss your avatar, Hana.", Madara ordered her.

"Yes, sensei….." _How?_, she thought. "Uh, you can go now, Watari."

"Goodbye, Hana. Madara-sama.", he bowed to the both of them and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Mika sat in the dark for a moment silently, before asking, "Sensei? Why was your name not on the contract even though you carry it?"

"Because I don't need it to be."

"And I do?"

"You don't have a strong asset like my Sharingan, and the strongest of the bird summons is of the lightning element. It suits you." _And it will make you more useful to me._, he thought to himself. "Now, it is the tradition of the four before you to make a mark on yourself to symbolize your connection to the Tori."

"Mark?"

"Turn around." She did as she was told. He placed his hand on her left shoulder blade and she felt a burning under her skin, but of course she didn't move or make a sound. "Done."

She looked over her shoulder and there was a black bird with wings outstretched encircling itself, claws extended, and its beak open. "I like it.", she smiled at her teacher.

"Come on, it's time to rest. Tomorrow you will work on your use of the metal element." He lowered his hand to Mika and helped her stand up.

"Yes, sensei.", she followed behind him.

-End F.B.-

"Funny story, that tattoo.", Mika gave a goofy smile. "Some friends and I got drunk once and we all got tattoos. I lucked out and woke up with that one.", she started to laugh. "This one guy got a bunny."

"Nice tattoo. Remind me to show you mine sometime.", Kakashi was standing next to Naruto.

"It's terrifying how you can walk into a room unnoticed.", Mika stated. "Or are you just that unnoticeable? ….Hey, are those my clothes?" She noticed the small pile in his hands.

"Yes, but I don't think you should get them now. You are grouchy and mean.", he was walking away with them.

"Get back here!" He kept walking. 'sigh' "Fine, I'm sorry. Please give me my clothes."

"O.k. Here you go." He tossed her the clothes and shoes.

Catching them with both arms was a bad idea. She felt the stitches in her arm tear. "Damn it.", she mumbled under her breath. "Sakura could you please?"

"I'll be right back with some more stitches." She left the room.

Mika unfolded the new wardrobe. Pair of shorts, pair of boots and a belt like before, but instead of a halter top, there was a black tank top and a tan short-sleeved button down shirt. She would look like she was about to go on safari, almost.

She looked up at the two boys in her room. "So, are ya'll gonna leave or am I just going to undress in front of you? I mean, not to brag or anything, but I look pretty damn good naked. I just don't want you getting any incestuous thoughts, nephew."…. _What? No comments or anything?... Rokubi? Hn, guess it's gone again. Good._

"Eww. I'm leaving." Naruto turned and started to walk out, but stopped when Kakashi didn't move.

Mika looked at her old friend. "Out. Now.", she pointed in the direction of the door.

"You're no fun.", he muttered as he walked past Naruto, out of the room. Her nephew followed him out and shut the door behind him.

She stood up and got dressed, stopping just before she covered up the tattoo on her back. She stared at it in the mirror.

'sigh' _Lies, lies, and more lies. Good job, Mika. 'A drunk tattoo', how original._

* * *

**Dear lord, this is a meticulous job!**


	17. Puppies are Cute

**"But behind that fair fascade, I'm afraid she's rather odd. Very different from the rest of us. She's nothing like the rest of us. Yes, different from the rest of us, is Belle!" (I'm going through a 'Beauty and the Beast' phase.)**

Chapter 16: Puppies are Cute

"So, where to?", Mika asked as she walked out of the hospital.

"Training Grounds!", Naruto shouted.

"Nope.", Kakashi told him.

"Yea, what he said.", she pointed at him. The three of them started to walk away from the hospital, Sakura had to work.

"But you are here to show me how to control the Kyuubi!", he whined.

"Correction: You brought me here under those orders. I never said I would do such a thing." Naruto stared at her with his jaw dropped. She kept walking. "Uh? Where are we going, for real?"

"To see the Hokage. If you recall, you ran out on her.", Kakashi reminded her.

"It was her own fault. News like that can really screw a person up.", she replied throwing her arm around Naruto's shoulder. "I'm just lucky that I didn't turn into some kind of an avenger or something. Then we really could have had a problem."

"Why?", Naruto was recalling Sasuke.

"Well, avengers completely reorganize their life toward seeking retribution for a loss. If an avenger ever comes to terms with the fact that they didn't lose as much as they thought, they could have an emotional breakdown. It's simple psychology, really." He nodded his head, but she didn't think he actually understood.

The group turned the corner and saw a giant dog barking at some kid that had a stupid scarf on. "Call of your ugly dog, you jerk!"

There were three people on the other side of the alley, one was laughing, one was silent and goth looking, the last, a girl, was talking very quietly. "Kiba, you shouldn't let Akamaru do that."

"But that brat deserves it.", he pleaded with the girl.

"Hey,", Naruto broke from Mika's grasp. "Akamaru, what are you doing to Konohamaru? Get away from him!" He jumped between the dog and the boy and he started to yell, a lot. "Kiba! Call off Akamaru. He didn't do anything.", he said pointing to Konohamaru.

Kakashi and Mika walked up next to the group. "How do you know this boy is innocent?", she asked Naruto, as she turned her attention to the dog. "Hello, puppy.", she smiled and scratched his head. The dog stopped barking and looked very happy.

"Well, I…", turning toward the boy accusingly, "What did you do?"

"Nothing I swear!", he shouted.

"The hell you didn't!", Kiba yelled at him. "You showed up and started talking trash and then you thought you could get away with smacking Akamaru on the head."

"Aww...Well, the puppy seems fine now.", Mika smiled still scratching the dog. "No harm, no foul, no need to argue anymore.", she was sick of the yelling.

"Who are you?", Kiba snapped.

"Watch it, dog-boy!", Naruto yelled at him.

"You watch it, screw-up!", he yelled back.

They were about to start a fist fight, when Mika put her hands on Naruto's shoulders. "It's sweet that you would fight for me kiddo, but I can handle an Inuzuka brat.", she turned to face Kiba.

"Do I know you?", he was a little unsettled that she knew his name.

"Nope, but I would assume maybe your mom or dad knows me; I wouldn't have a good reputation with them, would I?", she faced Kakashi, who was reading his book again.

"Why do you have to bring that up?", he responded, barely looking up from the book.

"Why do you have to have such poor taste in literature?"

He ignored the question. "That wasn't my fault, you killed the poor thing; not me."

"Bullshit."

"Language, Sparky.", he scolded.

"What did you kill and what does it have to do with me?", Kiba wearily asked foul-mouthed blonde.

"When we were little,", she pointed to Kakashi. "one of the Inuzuka Clan's dogs got loose. The poor thing was old and was going to die anyway, but still. I made a clap of thunder and it startled Kakashi who missed his target with a kunai and he hit the dog in its leg. The dog had a heart attack and when we ran next to it, we thought it was dead. So I sent a quick jolt of electricity into it, just for fun, and it came back to life! And this one here,", pointing again to her friend. "screamed 'Zombie Dog!' it scared me and I sent a bolt of lightning at it again while he threw another kunai at it."

All five kids were staring at her. Kiba look particularly upset.

"Then the dog was dead and it wasn't coming back. And of course I took the heat for the incident."

"Oh, that poor dog.", the quiet girl commented.

"That's not how it happened.", Kakashi insisted.

"Really, because I remember being forced to clean the kennels at the veterinary clinic for two weeks …alone."

"I didn't say that I didn't get off scot-free. But you didn't scare me with the thunder, my hand slipped."

"At the exact same time that I made a burst of thunder. Of course, how could I have been so stupid; you get scared, never.", the sarcasm hit everyone. "So, names?", Mika looked at the lot.

"I'm Konohamaru!" The smallest one sounded off. "And I'm going to be the Seventh Hokage!"

Mika laughed at him mockingly. "Good luck, a Hokage needs to be able to count. You mean the Sixth."

"No,", he corrected her. "Naruto is going to be the Sixth."

The thought went through her mind. _Just like his dad, eh? Gosh, that would be something._ "Oh, o.k.", she smiled. "I already know who you are.", looking at Kiba. "And you two?"

"Aburame Shino", the Goth one responded. "H-Hyuga Hinata", the girl very quietly spoke.

"It's a pleasure to make ya'll's acquaintance. Hey, are--" Kakashi linked his arm with Mika's and started to walk away.

"Come on, the Hokage is waiting.", he cheerfully spoke.

"Hey, hey, hey. Easy with the merchandise, tiger. You'll tear my stitches.", she complained as he pulled her down the street. "Naruto, lunch later?", she shouted over her shoulder.

"Yeah, Ichiraku Ramen!", he shouted back.

"Hey, Naruto. Who was that?", Kiba asked.

"Y-yea, who is she, Naruto-kun?", Hinata peeked out from behind Kiba. Shino was also paying attention to what Naruto would say.

"Oh, her? Well, what do you think of her?"

"She's nice and she's pretty.", Hinata commented.

"Pretty? She hot, but way sarcastic.", Kiba retorted. Naruto started to laugh. "Hey, what's so goddamn funny?", Kiba shouted.

Naruto wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. "That's my aunt.", he grinned.

They're jaws dropped. "You have an aunt?!"

* * *

**"Snap, snap!" I know, I know. I'm going as fast as my laptop will let me.**

* * *


	18. Gambling is an Addiction

Chapter 17: Gambling is an Addiction

Kakashi slowed the pace after they were out of earshot from the group they left behind. He let go of Mika's arm and held her hand instead.

"What's wrong?", she asked.

"Nothing serious, I'm sure."

Mika laughed apprehensively. "So, if it's not serious, what is it?"

"That tattoo of yours, where did you say you got it?"

_Don't tell me that he knows. No, there is no way. His name wasn't on the scroll, I would remember if it was._ "I didn't say. Why?"

"It seemed familiar, like I'd seen it somewhere before."

They arrived at the Hokage's tower. Turning to look him in his eye, she narrowed her gaze; she thought she knew where he was headed. "You're not gonna get a second look at it." She walked past him, up the stairs.

Chasing her up the stairs, Kakashi asked, "How did you know, I was going ask that?"

"I told you, I read the competition's books to make sure I'm still better. That line about a tattoo in a normally covered place; he uses that in his books more often than I think he realizes. Just one more flaw in his form of writing.", Mika smiled.

_Not what I was going for, but o.k…._, he thought."I don't know if I like that you knew that or not.", he said opening the door to Tsunade's office. He opened it before she could, because she was about to use her right arm.

"Oh, right. Sorry, I'm right-handed." She walked into the room. "Here I am, ma'am.", she announced as she walked into the room.

"Good to see you're out of the hospital.", she replied.

"Good to be out of the hospital.", Mika grinned.

"Well, I assume you will resume your duties as ninja here. You were chunnin level. I guess that is high enough to teach Naruto whatever your secret is to --."

"Actually,", she interrupted. "I'm not a ninja anymore. I retired. Sorry."

Tsunade looked at her like she was stupid. "You can't just retire."

"I could and I have.", she weakly smiled. _Please don't force this Tsunade._

"Fine, then. No house, no paycheck, and no helping with Naruto's training in any way." She had a serious look on her face.

"Now, now. Don't be so hasty." _Damn it. I could find my own home and I have plenty of money, but that last one. He needs my help. _Mika smiled at her. _Weakness, weakness. What is her weakness? 'lightbulb' hehehe…._ "How about we make a bet?"

_What on earth is she thinking?_, Kakashi thought.

"Bet? What kind of bet?" Tsunade was interested.

Mika rubbed her hands together. "O.k. here it is. I make a test. Naruto has five days to pass; whether he passes or fails, I will teach him."

"The catch?", she asked.

She grinned. "The catch is: If he passes, I will become a ninja again. If he fails, I don't have to, but I still get to train him."

"I like the sound of that.", she smiled.

"And just to make it more interesting,", Kakashi interrupted. "Why don't you change your name back to what it was, if he passes?"

Mika glared at him and sighed. "Last name only, I really do prefer Mika. It matches me better."

"Then it's settled." Tsunade was so pleased with herself. "Naruto has five days to pass a test; he fails, you get to train him without commitment to the village, he passes, you resume your duties here and your name changes from Yoshida to Namikaze."

"One last thing, before we shake on it.", Mika pulled her hand from Tsunade's.

"Yes?"

"Naruto can't know about this bet.", she looked over her shoulder at Kakashi. _He wants me to lose this bet. God knows he will try to cheat._

"Sounds fair, it's a deal." The two of them shook hands.

"Now, if you two would excuse me, Naruto is expecting me." Tsunade nodded, giving Mika permission to leave. "Bye!", she shouted as she ran out the door.

-Kakashi's P.O.V.-

"She better not win this bet, Kakashi.", Tsunade warned him.

"Don't worry, she won't.", he nodded. _I hope Mika doesn't make this too hard for me._ "Is there anything else?"

"No, you can go."

He bowed and headed back into the village. _O.k., Mika will already suspect me of trying to sabotage this. But what kind of test is this going to be? Naruto would definitely fail a written exam, but does she know that? Of course she does, anyone who meets him could tell that. A physical test maybe? He's plenty strong, but if it involves complex problem solving, ugh. This is going to be hard isn't it? No matter what, I'm going to need some accomplices. Some people to do the leg work and take the blame if Mika finds out. Yea, she'll watch me like a hawk. But who could help? Who could I trust?_

He had just walked up to the hospital.

_A Freudian slip? Sakura would want her to win…. or would she?_

He went inside and found Sakura.

"Ahem."

She looked up from her work. "Hello, Kakashi-sensei. Did you need something?"

"Kind of."

"I'm listening.", she smiled.

"Do you think Mika should do what she wants or what's best for everyone?"

"Um… are you trying to figure out if I would rat you out to her?"

He stared at her. _She's smart enough to already know that? No. _"She already talked to you, didn't she?"

"Yep. And for what it's worth, I'm on your side. If she was as good as you said she was when she was little, then now she must be even better. I don't buy the whole, 'I gave it up and didn't practice anything' routine. After how she stopped Kazuku from tearing into Naruto, I know she must be amazing."

"Well, in that case, could you go to the library and get me a book about summoning jutsu? I don't want her to see me get it."

"O.k.", she took off.

_One is enough, now to plan this out._

* * *

…**I can't think of anything worth typing here… darn, and I like writing A/N's so much. :(**


	19. Recruitment

Chapter 18: Recruitment

"Sorry, I kept you waiting.", Mika spoke between bites of food.

"No" 'slurp' "problem.", Naruto responded.

The two of them were eating lunch. This was the perfect opportunity to inform Naruto of his new test.

"Hey, guess what.", she told him.

"What?"

"Guess!", she laughed.

"Uhh…. Kakashi asked you out!"

She stared at him, blankly. "I ask you to guess any random thing and that is what you come up with? You seriously have no imagination."

"I thought it was really out there.", he pouted.

_Out there? _"Well, I, uh… well, jeez man. Do you really think that I am that 'un-dateable'?", she sulked. Naruto started to giggle a bit. "Forget it, back to what I wanted you to guess. Next week, I'm going to either start training you or I'm going to finish writing my book."

"That's awesome; but why wait till next week? Wait; did you say 'either'?"

Mika nodded. "Yea, you see, there is a certain level of skill that you need to have already before I can teach you anything, so I need to test you."

"Ugghhhh! I hate tests!", he whined.

"Don't worry, I promise it will be fun. And if you pass, you'll feel great about yourself.", she smiled kindly. "The test will start tomorrow out on your usual training grounds, around 11 am."

"Fine."

"Great, now I've got to get some things sorted out. See you later.", she kissed him on his cheek.

"Bye.", he turned back to his food.

She sighed as she walked off. _I am so smart. He will never pass my test._ She laughed and thought to herself. She was walking around looking for someone in particular. _I can't believe that Naruto guessed 'that', of all things. _The idea kept bothering her. _It wouldn't work. All the secrets I have would get in the way. All the things I have done, I'm practically a traitor to the village. What am I talking about, practically? I am a traitor. I was in the Akatsuki for years for crying out loud; a criminal._ She spotted who she was looking for, and she ran up to him.

"Hey there stranger!", Mika greeted him.

"Hello,", he gave a big smile. "Do I know you, gorgeous?"

"Aw, quit with that. You're going to make me blush. It's me, Gai. Hana!"

It took three seconds for it to sink in. "Oh my god! You're alive? ….That's great, amazing, wonderful!", he shouted and hugged her. "Look at you! I can't believe it. Tell me everything.", he pulled her into a nearby chair. "When did you get here? How? Where have you been?"

"Whoa, one question at a time cowboy.", she smiled. "First off, I got here about 4 days ago; the same day that those two Akatsuki members attacked."

"Four days, and you didn't come by and say hello?"

"I was in the hospital by the first day's evening. I was injured in the attack; nothing too serious, obviously, I'm alright now. But, yea…."

"You were there?", he reached across and patted her knee.

"Yep, someone had to protect my nephew. And the answer to your next question is also yes. Naruto knows who I am."

"Uh huh.", he nodded his head. "Why did you come back? For him?"

"Indirectly yes. I didn't know that Naruto existed, until Kakashi and his team brought me back here and Tsunade told me. A hell of a way to find out, right?"

"Oh, so you saw Kakashi first?" He was a little hurt. Childhood crushes are always the hardest to let go.

"Yes, but don't read too far into it. It was a mission to go get me. I was in Kumo, under another name; Mika Yoshida. And by the way, call me Mika. It's a permanent change.", she smiled.

"Alright,… Mika.", is sounded awkward coming from him.

"I was going to ask for your help with something, if you would be willing to help me that is."

"I don't know.", he looked at her suspiciously. "What is it?"

"Well, I've got this bet with Tsunade and Kakashi is going to try to sabotage me and make sure that I lose. He's already got a head start. He enlisted the help of Sakura already. I was wondering if you would be on my 'team' for this."

He smiled leaning against the table. "Anything you need."

"Sweet! O.k., I'm going to need two close range fighters and two long range ones. I don't know who I should ask or anything. Do you have any ninja in mind?"

"Of course I do. I can put together a group for you. Anything else?"

"Yea, actually. I need to brush up on my own skills, would it be too much to ask for some refresher lessons?"

"Not at all, I would be honored to teach you.", he was smiling ear to ear. "When did you want to start?"

"Tomorrow, after day one of the bet. Oh yea, it's going to last for five days.", she added.

"Alright, I don't really see where this is headed, but I'll be there." He promised.

"Great, now--" Shizune briskly walked up to her.

"Mika."

"Yes.", she looked up at the rushed woman.

"Tsunade-sama wanted me to give you the key to your apartment. She said you could have it early, since she is convinced you will lose.", she gave a weak smile.

"Huh, I was just wondering where I was going to sleep tonight."

"Also here is the address.", she said handing her the key and a slip of paper with the address written on it. "I don't know if you remember, but you dropped your belongings in her office when you first got here. They have already been sent to the apartment."

"Thank you, Shizune.", Mika nodded and she left. "O.k. where was I?... Right, if you could have those four ninja at the training grounds by say, 10:45ish, that would be great."

"Not a problem."

She stood up and he followed suit. "Thanks Gai, you have always been such a sweetheart.", she gave him a friendly hug and took off towards her new place.

* * *

**I know that practically no one likes Gai, but I think that deep down (under all the terrifyingly weird creepy-ness) there is a really nice guy. I would still never write a fic about him though. He doesn't have a romantic bone in his body. :)**


	20. Definition of a Family

**This is definitely one of my favorite old chapters. So glad I got to fix it up some.**

* * *

Chapter 19: Definition of a Family (The Big Reveal-One)

_Here we are! Apartment sweet Apartment. Not quite a home, eh?_ Mika thought as she unlocked the door to her third floor abode. "Nice.", she smiled as she saw what it looked like inside.

It was really big actually; almost more of a penthouse than an apartment. Plus, it was fully furnished with appliances and furniture. She noticed her bag on the couch, but she headed toward the kitchen instead.

"I wonder…", she said out loud to herself. Opening the fridge, she saw it was fully stocked with everything that should be in a fridge. "Hehehe. Tsunade must be really confident that I'm going to be stuck here, but she is always like that when she gambles." Mika pulled out an apple and walked toward the bedroom, snatching her bag on her way through the living room.

_Time to unpack._ She unraveled the scroll she used and everything came flying out. _Smooth, Mika. Real smooth. _She put away her clothes first, then the jewelry, and the extra sheets she packed. Then there was the black cloth bag that was sitting under the window. She refused to look at it, though it was still in the front of her mind. "I'll deal with that later; I wanted to buy some nail polish." A bullshit excuse, but still useful.

She walked slowly through downtown, enjoying the bustle of evening foot traffic. _This town and I, we always had a love/hate relationship. Hate the people, love the scenery…. I take that back, hate most of the people, love all of the scenery._ She walked into a store and bought some black nail polish and eyeliner.

_You're so emo._

_If you wear it right, it's not emo or goth, just fashionable._

_Whatever makes you feel better about yourself._

Looking around at all of the people, she started to wonder where her nephew went, but that thought disappeared when she saw two familiar faces.

Mika walked up behind them silently and flung her arms around their shoulders. "Well, if it isn't Casca and Brutus?", she exclaimed to Kakashi and Sakura respectively.

"What's that supposed to mean?", Kakashi innocently responded.

She let them go, but she noticed a book shared between them. "What's that?"

"Nothing.", Sakura answered a little too quickly.

Mika raised her eyebrow at the little girl. "'Nothing' looks interesting. Let me see." She reached out for the book, but it was pulled away by Kakashi who hid it behind his back.

"It really isn't anything you would like to read.", he assured her.

"Oh,", she nodded in an understanding way. "It's one of 'those' books."

Kakashi sighed. "No, it's not one of 'those' books.", he looked at her irritated. "I don't send a child to get 'those' books. I buy them all myself."

"I just love it when you're inappropriate in public.", Mika winced out of disgust. "Next time, wait till the minor is out of earshot.", she motioned toward Sakura who had the most uncomfortable look on her face. Gai walked up, flashing one of his trademark smiles. "Antony! My savior!", Mika threw her arms around his neck.

"What? Are these two bothering you?", Gai valiantly asked.

"No more than they usually do.", she joked. Sakura got it and seemed relieved that the humor had returned to a PG level, but Kakashi just stood there unfazed and looking completely disinterested.

"Hello, Gai.", Kakashi plainly stated out of polite obligation.

"Hello, Kakashi. Just a fair warning, I'm counting this as our latest competition."

"What 'this'?" He took a second to look at the scene; Mika hanging off of Gai's neck. _Does he mean Mika? She would never….would she?_

"This bet between Tsunade and Mika. We are going to win.", he squeezed Mika's shoulders.

_Wow, dodged a bullet there. I thought that he and Mika…. No, thank God._"I doubt that, but whatever.", he lazily responded.

Gai's jaw dropped and he let go of her shoulders. "WHAT! How can you just stand there with your 'cool guy' attitude?!"

Mika dropped her arms as she took a few steps away from him. He was acting really weird and she didn't want to get labeled. "I see that nothing has changed between the two of you.", she laughed. Gai kept trying to show off and it was boring Mika to no end. "Hey, Sakura,", she turned to face her, "have you seen Naruto?"

"Nope… Mika-chan?"

"Yes."

"What kind of test is this going to be?", she asked as innocently as possible.

"Like I'd tell you. You're working for the enemy.", she smiled at her.

"It was worth a shot.", she shrugged her shoulders.

!BOOM! A cloud of dust shot up from two blocks over. "What the heck was that?", Mika exclaimed as she ran toward where the explosion came from. The three followed behind her closely.

"Ha! I told you I could do it!", Naruto shouted.

"Whopdi-Frickin-Do. Are you proud of yourself now? You made a giant hole in the ground, congratulations.", Kiba laughed at him.

"I don't know what went on here, and I don't really care. I'm hungry and I want to eat.", Mika stated grabbing Naruto's arm. "You can come too if you want, puppy.", she shouted over her shoulder to Kiba and Akamaru. The pair of them was too cute to not include. They followed her to a restaurant, but poor Akamaru had to wait outside. So, it was Mika, Naruto, Sakura, Kiba, Kakashi and Gai at the restaurant.

"I want to know about the test that I have to take.", Naruto demanded.

Mika propped her hand up on the table and started to talk dramatically. "Oh of course, you see, I made this test and the details are….", she stopped.

He was listening intently, even though she had stopped talking. "She's not going to tell you anything.", Sakura sighed.

"Yeah, she's right. I ain't telling you jack.", she laughed.

"What!? Why?!", he complained.

"If it was a test you could study for, then maybe I would tell you. But it's not, so deal." She turned her attention back to her food. _Yum…. I love barbeque. ;) __I'm more of a raw steak eater. ;)_

_So, you can't study for this test. She's looking to see if he's been taught something, maybe?_, Kakashi thought.

"Kiba.", Gai spoke to him.

"Yes?" He looked up at the older man.

"I've already talked to Kurenai and she is o.k. with lending you to Mika here. You are going to help her with Naruto's test."

"Oh,", Mika swallowed her food. "He's one of the ninja I asked for?"

"I guess I am.", Kiba answered confused.

_She asked for ninja. How many and what for?_, wondered Kakashi.

Mika knew she was giving away too much information. "Gai, you can tell him about the whole test thing later, kay. Right now, I want the future of my family's name to enjoy his last dinner before his life-changing test.", she exaggerated.

"Life-changing?", he gulped.

"Oh relax; if you're a real Namikaze it won't be difficult for you at all." Now she was just screwing around with him.

"But my name is Uzumaki.", he corrected. "Come to think about it, why do you have a different name than me?"

"Wait, your name is Uzumaki? Well, that's not right… but I think I've heard that name before… but where?", she looked off into space trying to remember where she had heard it.

"Uh… it's my name. Duh.", he looked at her like she was stupid.

"No, that's not it.", she tapped her finger to her chin, "Kushina… yeah that's right. Kushina's last name was Uzumaki."

"Who?", Sakura was interested.

"Mika, can I talk to you in private for a moment.", Kakashi asked as he forcibly pulled her from the table and across the restaurant.

"What is it?", she asked, somewhat worried from the tone of his voice.

"Naruto doesn't know who his parents are. He was never told."

Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"The Third didn't want anyone to tell him. We were forbidden from mentioning anything about them, to anyone, especially him."

This set her off. Now she was pissed. "What kind of bullshit is that?", she hissed under her breath, for fear of causing a scene in the restaurant. Half-smiling and shaking her head she continued, "Well, the Third is dead and so is his 'decree'." She pushed past Kakashi and sat back down next to her nephew.

Very gently, Mika wrapped her arm around Naruto. "Sweetie, what do you know about your folks?"

He stared at her quietly before letting the only information he knew fall out of his mouth. "They're dead, that's all.", he seemed sad now.

"Hey now, cheer up cause I'm gonna tell you all about them." She smiled thoughtfully. "Now, I don't know why you use your mother's last name, but your mom's name was Uzumaki Kushina."

"You knew her?", he was shocked.

"Of course I knew her. I was the flower girl at your parents wedding. I was her sister-in-law, for crying out loud."

"Tell me about her, I want to know everything." The look of curiosity would put a cat to shame.

"O.k., but come on, I'm done eating.", she pulled him from the table. "I'll see all of you bright and early tomorrow." "BYE!", the two of them shouted as they left the restaurant. Mika took him to a field and sat him in the grass.

"Let's see, where should I start?", she tapped her chin.

"My mother. I want to know.", Naruto was anxious.

"Right, uh, she was from the former Whirlpool Country. When the country was dissolved, she emigrated here and then she met your dad. She was very beautiful, but you look nothing like her.", she added. "But you know, personality wise, you are almost identical to her.", she smiled at him.

He was shocked and he was so happy to know anything about her. "And my… dad?"

She sighed, "Your dad, my brother, gosh…. he was… awesome."

"Really!? I mean really? What was he like?"

"Well, I'd imagine you already kind of know him." He looked at her, he didn't get it. "Your dad was the Fourth Hokage."

The smile left his face. "Huh?"

"Yeah, you look just like him." He kept the blank stare on his face. She grabbed his hand, "Hey, it's alright. Are you o.k.?"

"My dad was the Fourth and no one told me." He had the saddest look anyone had ever seen on his face.

"Come here." She pulled him onto her lap and she hugged him tight. "I know… I know just how awful the people here can be. Believe me."

"They ignored me and called me a monster and the whole time they knew that my dad was the Hokage that sacrificed his life for the village."

"The one that sacrificed his life to save every last one of these ungrateful, selfish people.", she reiterated. "I understand what you're feeling. Even when my brother was alive, they treated me poorly." She felt the tears starting to form in her eyes, just from the memories.

She felt him tense. "All of them knew and no one told me. Jiraiya, Kakashi, Tsunade, the Third… Iruka. All of them and not one cared enough to tell me."

Mika pushed him back a bit. "Hey, don't you dare hate them or hold this against them.", she warned him. "The Third saw it fit, in all his knowledge, to keep this from you. He ordered them to keep quiet. They all care about you a lot, you are lucky, god you are so lucky, to have such great people who love you."

The two of them sat there for a few minutes in silence. The sun was just about done setting, when he broke the silence. "You're right."

_Whoa, he's been thinking this whole time. I was blank. God, I suck when it comes to emotional stuff. _"Hm."

"Those people care about me a lot and I care about them. They are like family to me, aren't they?"

She smiled. "That is exactly what family is." There was another pause. "Aww… we just had our first moment.", they laughed. "Come on, I'll walk you home, nephew."

The pair arrived at his place and she hugged him goodnight. "I'll see you in the morning, don't be late."

"I won't be, Believe it!" He walked inside and she walked back to her place.

* * *

**Wow, now wasn't that a highly improved chapter or what? I particularly enjoyed changing up the 'Julius Caesar' dialogue part.**


	21. Killing Loneliness

**My apologies, I messed up and accidentally posted a duplicate chapter. But I fixed it now. :)**

Chapter 20: Killing Loneliness

Mika yawned deeply. _Gosh, I'm beat._ The street near her 'penthouse' was quiet for the most part. She liked it like that; it made for a good writing atmosphere. However, just as she turned the corner, she could hear the faint echo of an argument. _Damn it, that better not be near my apartment or I'll be frickin pissed._ Of course it was; it was right across the street from where she was headed. _It'll be fine, I'll just ignore it because it isn't my problem. The losers that they are will just go home eventually._ She walked to the door and started to go inside when she heard part of the argument.

"You can't tell her that I told you!"

"Why would I tell her that you opened your big mouth and let out some of the details of her top secret test?"

She stopped and stood with her back to the arguers. _How many girls in this village are putting together 'top secret tests'? _She sighed again as she turned around and saw Gai and Kakashi having the argument. _Joy._, she thought.

"I didn't just tell you! You tricked me! It was hardly a fair fight."

"We didn't fight, Gai. I asked and you bragged. It's as simple as that."

"That does sound awfully simple to me, Gai.", Mika butted in.

"Mika! I swear I would never purposely jeopardize your trust in me, by bragging to him.", Gai tried to defend himself.

"It's fine, really." She turned to Kakashi. "I don't care if you know my plan or not. Because, given that you figured it all out based on whatever Gai told you, then you know that there is no possible way Naruto can win. My test, my rules, he doesn't stand a chance."

"Speaking of Naruto, is he alright?", Kakashi asked.

Mika nodded. "Yea, he's gonna be fine. Don't worry, he doesn't hate ya'll. Now, I'm tired and going to sleep." She turned to walk away.

"Where are you headed?", Gai asked.

The sleepy blonde pointed to the third floor across the street. "There. Night, boys." She started to walk across the street.

"Goodnight, neighbor.", Kakashi called after her.

Mika turned back around and glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, questioning the statement. He pointed up above him, at the third floor apartment on his side of the street. "mmm…", she raised her chin and turned back, continuing her stride. _No wonder Tsunade gave me my apartment so quickly. So he can keep an eye on me, eh? Well, better him than a stranger._

She glided up the stairs to her apartment and locked the door behind herself. She headed to the bedroom. "Bedtime.", she muttered to herself. She changed into a short nightgown with a pair of shorts on underneath. You could barely see them, but it made her more comfortable to know that she was wearing them. She had been looking forward to a good night's sleep, but it wouldn't be that easy. Just as her eyes started to close, she saw the black cloth bag still sitting under the window. The dream she had was more of a memory that night.

-F.B.-

It was nearly four years after Madara had taught her how to summon and she couldn't sleep. Her teacher had left to go get her new 'comrade'. She knew that he had been up to something for a while; he would train her during the day and leave her every night. Something was wrong tonight, something absolutely horrible was happening and she couldn't put it together.

Pacing her room back and forth she looked out the window, nothing. _I don't want a comrade. I prefer to work alone. I just didn't like the look in Madara-sensei's eye when he said 'You'll need a partner for what I'm planning. I'm leaving to get him tonight.' I just don't know him, do I? Who knows who Madara-sensei really is? …….The summon…. Watari knew him before he even said his name._

She cut her finger with a kunai and silently summoned Watari. It made more noise than she thought it would, so she shot up to look out the window, still nothing.

"Hana? Why did you summon me?", the raven squawked.

"Shhhh!", she whispered. "Keep quiet, Watari." Hana knelt down to the floor, bringing herself closer to eye level with the bird.

"Hana, what's wrong.", he whispered. There was real concern in his voice.

"You knew who Madara-sensei was before I ever said his name. Tell me how you knew.", she pleaded.

The bird looked away and ruffled his feathers. "Hana, you're not like Madara-sama, are you?"

"What do you mean? I'm his student."

"No, I can tell by your voice. You have a good heart, Hana."

The compliment made her smile. "Well, uh, thanks Watari."

The bird looked her right in the face. "That's not a good thing. Not when it comes to Madara-sama."

"Tell me what you know, please.", she sat down on the ground with her knees up.

Watari perched up on her knees and got comfortable. "First, tell me why you are his student."

"Well, uh, I guess because he saved my life; there were some rain ninja that jumped me. I could have taken 1 or 2 of them, but there were 5 and I didn't stand a chance. He protected me. If it weren't for him, I'd be dead."

"Hn.", the bird replied. "And you don't think that maybe the fact that you house the Rokubi doesn't have anything to do with why he was in the right place at the right time to save your life?"

Her eyes narrowed at the mention of her 'condition'. "I don't like it when people bring that up; please don't."

"If you ignore that fact, then you are stupid. You are already very strong on your own, but the Rokubi multiplies that five-fold. Madara looks for people that are useful to him and you fit the bill, doll." Though the bird was adorable, he was dead serious.

She lowered your head, she knew he was right. Madara was cruel and selfish, but she felt indebted to him and he trained her to be stronger than she could have ever dreamed of being.

"Where is he, Hana?", Watari wanted to know.

"He left when the sun set to go get my new 'comrade'."

"Who?", the bird insisted.

"I don't know, but he's been training whoever it is in secret for some time now. I've never seen the kid's face."

Watari was quiet for a moment. "I'm going to fly out and see what I can see. Do you know in what direction he goes to train this kid?"

"Yes.", a scowl crossed her face."He goes in the direction of Konoha."

Watari nodded and flew out the window; surprisingly fast for looking like an average raven.

Hana sat on the floor leaning against her bed for the next hour, just thinking_. Here I am, nearly 20 years old, and I'm no better off than I was when I was little. If anything, I'm worse now. I've been trained by an evil man to be the partner to some mystery prodigy of his in some kind of group that he's yet to inform me of... What is taking Watari so long?_

As the thought passed through her mind, the bird flew into the room at lightning speed.

"Watari!", she caught him before he crashed from exhaustion to the floor.

"Hana, climb into bed and pretend you are asleep, now.", he panted.

The young woman did as she was told, turning her back to the door of her room and hiding him by her chest under the blankets. There was the sound of footsteps coming outside the door. It opened and light poured in. On the wall across from her eyes, she saw the silhouettes of two people.

"I guess you will meet her in the morning. She usually stays up very late.", she heard Madara's voice.

"Fine.", the stranger's voice echoed in her mind.

"Come, I will show you where you will be staying." Madara closed the door to her room. She waited till the footsteps were completely gone before she so much as rolled over.

"Watari…. What did you find out?", Hana picked the bird up and set him on her chest.

"You're not going to like it."

Her jaw stiffened. "I decided that I wouldn't like it since before you left, now what is it?"

"Your new partner is named Uchiha Itachi and he and Madara just finished killing all of the Uchiha Clan in Konoha, with the exception of Itachi's little brother, Sasuke."

She took a deep breath and sat up, putting Watari in her lap. "You're right, I don't like it." She looked at the blackbird in front of her. "What should I do?"

"Get out. I don't know how, just get out."

She nodded her head, "When the opportunity comes, I'll take it." _Oh, god. I can't believe this is happening. I'm in so deep._ "You should go, Watari. I don't want you to get hurt."

He stood up on his two legs. "If you need me, don't hesitate. I'm as connected to you as you are me." He disappeared in quick puff of smoke.

-End F.B.-

Mika opened her eyes from the worst night of sleep she had, had in a long time. "Ugghhhh. Why me?" Looking outside she noticed that it was still dark out. Her eyes drifted down and saw the black bag she kept trying to ignore. Sitting up in bed and a sudden feeling of loneliness shot over her.

"I miss you Watari." Mika looked around the room. _No one will see me. It's safe._, she thought. She sat on the floor at the foot of her bed, near but below the window, and she summoned Watari.

The bird in front of her was larger than she remembered and its feathers were shinier. "Hana?", he asked.

"Yup.", she smiled at him.

"Hana, it's been so long!", he flew up to her face and she caught him and held him at eye level.

"Yeah, I know." She started to cry. "I'm sorry about that."

"Hey now, doll, don't cry." He jumped from her hands to her shoulder and leaned against her face. "It's o.k., isn't it?" He looked around the room.

"Yea, we're safe.", she said wiping the tears from her eyes. "We're in Konoha."

"That's great, eight years later than I wish you had, but still, better late than never."

"I left Madara and Itachi less than a year after I last saw you. I got to go to Kumo, but I didn't want to risk getting discovered; that's why I put off summoning you again."

"What do you mean 'you got' to go to Kumo?" Birds are smart.

"Madara let me go. I just had to stay out of the way."

He stared at her for a minute. "Tell me everything.", he almost ordered her as he perched on the windowsill.

She told him how she was an author named Mika, how Tsunade sent ninja to retrieve her, how Madara told her to go with them, and how she was reunited with your nephew, Naruto.

"That is quite the pill to swallow… Mika."

"Yea, and I'm doing the best I can. It's just so hard. The lies are to protect them, just as much as myself.", she rationalized. "I just couldn't stand not seeing you anymore, you know who and what I really am and I needed someone like that to know everything."

He jumped into her lap and lay down. "I think that if you tell them everything, they'd forgive you, doll."

Mika stroked his smooth back, "I'm not ready yet."

He looked up at her. "Your eyes are blue, they're shiny like sapphires." Ravens have a 'thing' for shiny things.

"You like 'em? I'll make you a shiny necklace if you want."

"Oooo… yea!"

She put her hands together and a bright light flashed. She made a small, sapphire, diamond, and onyx necklace. It was a perfect fit for the large bird.

"Hahahaha!", he flapped his wings as he danced around the floor. "Ooooo…. So pretty. Thank you!"

"That way you never forget me.", she smiled sadly at him.

He stopped jumping around. "I would never forget you anyway." He flew up to the window again. "The sun is going to rise in a few minutes. I should go."

"I promise, I'll tell them soon enough and then I'll summon you back so you can meet Naruto."

"Just don't take another eight years alright?", he joked with her. "Bye." 'Poof' He was gone.

Mika grabbed a robe out of her closet, put it on and curled up on the balcony floor to watch the sunrise.


	22. Promises

Chapter 21: Promises

The two guys watched Mika walk back across the street to her place.

"Goodnight, neighbor." Kakashi called after her. She looked back to see him pointing up toward his apartment, directly across the way from hers. She halfway smiled and went back to walking.

"Go home, Gai.", Kakashi was tired of talking to him.

"Fine, but even though you know that there are four ninja who are going to help our team, you only know one of them; Kiba. And that's not enough to understand the complexity of Mika's plan."

_Oh yea, it's so complex that I could never hope to understand it._, he thought sarcastically before answering."She's going to have Naruto fight four ninja of different strengths to measure his abilities."

"I wouldn't know. She only told me to pick four ninja to help her. So, ha!" Gai laughed haughtily and pointed at his nemesis.

Kakashi closed his eye. "Good night." He turned around and went into the building behind him.

Once inside, he sat down at his desk and pulled out the book that he had Sakura bring him earlier. "Please don't be a liar, Mika.", he muttered as he opened the book and searched for any kind of a bird.

_Damn it, she lied._, he thought as he turned the page and saw the same marking that she had on her back, in the book.

* * *

The book read as follows:

Little is known about the contract with the Tori (Birds). The summons range from sparrows to eagles and everything in between. The reason so little is known, is because less than 3 people are known to have ever possessed the ability. From the people who have had the ability we have learned only two things:

1. Those who have signed the elusive contract will always have a mark of some sort to signify the connection between the person and the creature.

2. The connection between the person and the creature is much stronger than any other summon. Any damage done to the avatar will transfer to the summoner after the creature has been dismissed. Perhaps a reason why so few are known, is because this summon makes them extremely vulnerable.

* * *

_Does she know about this? I can't imagine her committing to something so blatantly dangerous._ He closed the book and walked out to the balcony. Looking across, he saw Mika's apartment. He could barely make out her silhouette before she turned off the light. _First off, where did she find the contract? Secondly, why doesn't she trust me? Has she really changed that much?_ He gave up thinking about it and went to sleep.

-Less than 12 Hours Later-

It was about an hour before sunrise, he was already awake, unable to sleep. _She's hiding more than just that summoning ability isn't she?_

Suddenly, there was a quick flash of light that came from across the street. _That came from her apartment! _He looked outside his window and stared at the window to her apartment. A few minutes later, a raven jumped up on the ledge. It was pretty big and it had a sparkling collar. _That's something you don't see everyday._, he thought to himself. The bird jumped back down and disappeared. Then Mika walked out onto her balcony, sitting on the ground facing the fast coming sunrise. _I really need to talk to her._

-Back to Mika-

As the first rays of sunlight touched her face, she took a deep breath to clear her head. "Here is another new day, another chance to change and improve….or fuck up royally….whichever." she scoffed. The warmth from the sun was slowly brightening her spirits when something caught her eyes across the street. Standing opposite her balcony was Kakashi, also enjoying the view, apparently.

"I don't like being alone.", she shouted across the street.

He jumped across the street and leaned against the rails of her apartment's balcony. "I know.", he answered her. "I take it I'm not the first to keep you company this morning?"

Mika yawned deeply. "You saw that, eh?" the smile faded from her face. _Watari did say that I should tell them._

"Yep. Was it a pet that you were hiding this whole time or something?"

She stood up and turned her attention back to the sunrise. "You only ever ask questions, when you already know the answer. Do you realize that?"

"I want to hear it from you." _I don't want you to be a liar._, he thought.

_What do you want to hear, huh? That I'm a liar, that I'm a criminal, that I'm dangerous, and that I hate myself for leaving you… all..…ya'll…..Naruto and everyone. What the hell is going on in my head? I almost miss hearing that demon reprimand me for my thoughts. I have to tell him something, anything to stop him from asking questions at least for a little while; until I'm ready to talk._ "How about I make you a promise?", she forced a smile.

"I'm listening." _I always am._ He walked forward and leaned against the railing next to her.

"I'll tell you everything….eventually. Just, right now isn't a good time."

"I know I have to accept that no matter what, but how can I be sure that you will follow through with that promise?"

_He doesn't trust me… I shouldn't have expected anything different. _"I promised. That's all I got.", she shrugged your shoulders.

"So, what was that with the bird?"

_I thought I just said that I would tell you later? _"He's a Raven," Mika turned to face him and looked him in the eye," and I told you that I would tell you eventually."

"M'kay, Sparky." He smiled and patted her on the head. "I'll see you in a couple of hours." He jumped back to his place.

"I'm really not going to be o.k. with him living over there.", she mumbled to herself as she turned around to go inside, take a shower, get dressed and packed; ready to crush her nephew.

* * *

**Ya'll don't know just how essential to the storyline this chapter is going to be. Don't worry, when it comes into effect, I'll put a reminder in the A/N about this chapter so that no one gets lost.**


	23. Let the Games Begin!

**Ah, I love new haircuts. Don't ya'll?**

* * *

Chapter 22: Let the Games Begin!

Mika dressed the same as she had yesterday, only she added a black cloth wrapping to cover the scar on her right arm. She also packed a bag with some necessities for the day; her notebooks, some water, and a few granola bars. With such a busy schedule, Hunger was going to be her enemy today.

It was still fairly early, she had two or three hours to kill and she decided to read up on the group of ninja that Naruto knew.

Munching on an apple, she walked up to the Hokage's tower. Tsunade wasn't there, but Shizune was.

"Hey, Shizune.", she called out, seeing the woman toting files around the office.

"Yes, Mika-chan?", she was shocked that someone was up as early as she was.

"I was wondering if I could see some files of the ninja who are helping me with Naruto. I just want to read 'um. Not make any copies or anything. Would that be o.k.?"

"Well,… I'm not sure." She looked around. "I guess, if it has to do with the bet, then Tsunade-sama would agree to it. Alright, you can. The records room is down the hall, second door on the left. Please mind the filing system."

"Of course, thanks.", Mika assured her as she headed down to the room. And oh, what a massive room it was. Crates, boxes, filing cabinets stacked everywhere, and yet completely organized. It was reminiscent of the government warehouse from Indiana Jones movies. Everything that the village deemed 'classified' would go here. Everything they would want to hide.

Mika was in there reading personnel files and mission reports until 10:40a.m. "Geez, Naruto's done so much and he's still technically a genin. I'm gonna have to change up the test some if I want to win." _Heh, it's not cheating if I change the rules. Wow, I'm evil. _

"Holy…" She sighed from frustration. "I need to work on not cussing.", she mumbled to herself as she noticed the time on the wall. She dashed out to the training grounds to meet with the group that Gai put together for her.

"10:45a.m., right on the dot! I knew you wouldn't be late.", Gai greeted the out of breath Mika.

"Course I wouldn't be late, especially today.", she huffed and stood up straight. "So, this is who all you brought me?" _Hn. I recognize these kids from their records. Not amazing, but still pretty good._

"Yes, the best fighters of their kind that you asked for.", he beamed.

"Good, good. Alright then, introduce yourselves."

First there was a girl with two buns in her hair and a large scroll on her back. "My name is TenTen, and I'm a long-range fighter. I'm fluent in every kind of weaponry available.", she bowed gracefully.

Next there was the Goth looking boy from the other day, he wore a jacket that hid everything except his eyes and even then he wore sunglasses. "We met the other day. My name is Shino; I use insects to attack my enemy and defend myself."

"That's right; I did meet you already, didn't I. You were with Kiba, here.", she pointed to the boy and his dog.

The dog-boy nodded. "Yea, you already know me. I attack head on with Akamaru by my side. Isn't that right, buddy?", Kiba scratched Akamaru affectionately.

"Ruff, Ruff!", the dog gruffly replied.

"And you?", Mika turned to a kid that looked like Gai's twin.

"I am Lee.", he bowed quickly. "I strictly use taijutsu to defeat my opponents."

"Really, a ninja that only uses taijutsu. Impressive." She nudged Gai in the side and whispered to him, "Umm… not to intrude on your personal life, but is he your kid or something?"

"No, no. But he is my best student.", he boasted.

"Oh, alright. It's just the likeness is so… so…similar." _Creepy is more like it._

Mika clapped her hands together to get their attention. "Real quick ya'll, before anyone else shows up. The real goal I have for Naruto here is learning how to put his opponents on the defensive. So ya'll fight offensively until he forces you to get defensive. O.k.?"

She got a 'Yes ma'am.', a nod of the head, a 'You got it!', and an 'I understand and will not let you down.'

"Hope, we're not too late to see the show.", Kakashi said as he and Sakura arrived.

"No, not at all. Naruto hasn't arrived yet, himself.", Gai answered before Mika had a chance.

"Funny.", she cocked her head to the side. "I don't remember telling either of you two where this was going to take place."

"Gai mentioned it to me yesterday after you left. Besides, I know you wouldn't purposely keep something from me, would you?", Kakashi responded. She gave him a short glare. _Now is not the time, nor the place._, she thought.

"We should have another five minutes before Naruto gets here.", she glanced at her stopwatch.

"Speak of the Devil.", Kiba shouted as Naruto came running over the hill.

"You're the last to show up, nephew. Are you ready?", Mika got right to the point.

"I'm not late!", he exclaimed. "Whoa, hey! Maybe I am. Kakashi-sensei is always late and he's already here."

Mika laughed at Kakashi's expense, "No, you're fine. A few minutes early, this is good, I can explain the rules of this test and the sooner I explain, the sooner we start, and the sooner we all get to enjoy basically a week off from work."

"What do you mean 'no work'?", Kiba was intrigued.

"Well, I'll explain the test and then all ya'll will get it. Naruto," she turned back to face him. "You have five opponents in this challenge. You have to knock each one down, just once, in order to win."

"Sweet! That's going to be easy!", he shouted.

"Hey, not so fast. Rules."

"O.k. I'm listening.", he quieted down. Everyone else was listening intently as well.

"You will fight one-on-one. You have 15 minutes to attempt to knock them down. If you succeed, you move on to the next opponent. If you fail to do so in the time period, you're done for the day and have to try to continue tomorrow. Don't worry; I won't make you repeat any fight with someone you already beat. You've got five days to complete the test. Do you understand?"

"Yes! Let's go, I'm ready!" His behavior hinted at a sugar rush of some sort.

"Wait a second.", Kakashi interrupted. "I've got a question." Mika looked at him expectantly. "Who is the fifth opponent?"

"I've yet to decide." She answered hurriedly. "Now then, you ready Naruto?"

"Hold on, I've got another question.", Kakashi interrupted again.

"What is it?", she was mildly irritated; probably from hunger.

"Shouldn't you have already decided on who it should be, before you start the test?"

Mika looked at him and grinned, "My test, my rules. I can do whatever the hell I want." _Crap, I just gave away too much didn't I?_ "Alright Q & A is over and it's time to start the first match. Ummm…", she looked over the group of teenagers. "TenTen, you go first."

"Yes ma'am." She jumped out to the field and waited for the signal.

Mika grabbed Naruto's shoulders as she spun him around to face the field. "Remember nephew, You have to knock Her down. Good luck.", she pushed him forward and she waved her hand to signal TenTen to begin her attack.

The blonde ringleader of this circus started her timer and basically stopped watching. Leaning against a tree, she dug though her bag searching for a granola bar. She quickly got frustrated and ended up dumping everything inside to the ground. "Ha!", she exclaimed as she snatched the food from the ground.

Of course, the first to start picking up her things wasn't her. "You're not paying much attention to the fight, Mika.", Kakashi was fishing for information along with the things she had dumped on the ground.

"Why should I? He's going to lose in the long run."

Lee's jaw dropped. "How can you not expect Naruto to succeed? Gai-sensei said that you were his family, and families support each other."

Mika stared at the strange little boy and simply stated, "Just cause I know that he is going to lose doesn't mean that I don't support him." She sneered a little, "I love that kid and I would die for him in a heartbeat." She took another bite out of her granola bar as Kakashi handed her back her bag, which she threw over her shoulders. "Besides, I'm fairly sure that he can handle himself alright."

She let her eyes wander up to the fight. TenTen just sent down a flurry of sharp weapons. Naruto was poised to dodge, but it was obvious that he was going to take a hit, Mika just didn't like where. Kakashi was still to her right, the closest of everyone, so she reached to his pocket and threw out a kunai to deflect one senbon needle, which was headed straight between Naruto's legs. TenTen stopped for a moment, as everyone around was temporarily stunned at how quickly she had intervened.

"That was a once in a lifetime save, kid!", she shouted to her nephew with the granola bar sticking out the side of her mouth.

"T-Thanks!", he shouted back.

No one was moving as she glanced around. Taking a moment to clear her mouth of mushy granola, "I didn't say stop. The timer is still going!", she yelled out to the two fighters. TenTen immediately resumed her attack.

"What – the – hell – was - that!", Kiba stood dumbfounded.

"Heh.", she replied with a smirk. "That was me saving the future of my family." She turned toward Kakashi, "Sorry, if I startled you. I don't carry any weapons on me and you were the closest.", she gave him a cheeky little smile.

He leaned in toward her and whispered, "You're welcome to my pockets whenever you want." Then he leaned back against the tree behind her and started to read his book.

She sighed half-heartedly. "Just when I thought you were being kind of cute; you pull that out.", she glared at the book and then turned back around. A quick glance at her stopwatch revealed; "Only four more minutes, ya'll!"

"Grrr…", Naruto was getting aggravated. "How am I supposed to knock her down, if she is constantly attacking me?", he asked himself. He kept making shadow clone after shadow clone, but the near constant fire of weapons kept them at bay.

"Thirty seconds!", he heard Mika shout to him.

"Damn it.", he muttered. With one last charge of clones he managed to kick TenTen in the side, but not knock her down.

"Time's up! Stop!", Mika shouted. TenTen and Naruto came back to the group; she was happy and he was sort of pissed off. "Good job, TenTen.", Mika patted her on the back. She looked over to Naruto. He had a scowl on his face. "What's the matter?", she was genuinely concerned.

"I want a re-match.", he demanded.

"O.k., you can have it tomorrow.", she smiled sincerely at him.

"That's not fair, how am I supposed to knock her down in just 15 minutes? It takes me that long to get close to her. This test is rigged. I didn't understand the rules; I should get another shot, today!"

She raised her hand to stop him from complaining anymore. "I don't want to hear it, so stop."

"No! I'm not--"

She slapped him on the back of his head. "You really are the most ungrateful child I have ever met, you know that? You have been given every advantage in this and you are wasting it and complaining. Take a look around and tell me what you see."

He was holding his head as he looked around. "I see Kiba, TenTen, Shino, Lee, Sakura, Gai-sensei, and Kakashi-sensei."

"Give the boy a medal.", she sarcastically remarked. "You already know who your opponents are going to be.—Not a word, Kakashi—" He was about to remind Naruto of the mystery 5th. "I haven't put any limits on 'how' you can knock them down. And I'm giving you an entire five days to complete the test. So don't you dare- for one second- tell me- that this test is unfair. You are capable of winning, if you are smart enough to figure out how…. Unless you're trying to tell me that you are 'too stupid to figure it out' or something."

"I'm not stupid!", he shouted in her face. "I'll beat your stupid test and then we'll see who's stupid!"

Mika couldn't help but smile. _This kid's got spirit. I like it. __It ain't bad._ "By all means, prove my own stupidity and win." She turned back to face everyone. "Alright, show's over. See ya'll here tomorrow; same place, same time."

"Sweet! Come on Akamaru." Kiba took off with his dog.

"You weren't kidding when you said we'd get a whole week off.", Shino said as he started to walk away. TenTen and Sakura followed him.

"Ready to go?", Gai asked Mika, walking forward and hooking arms with her.

"Yup.", she began follow him to wherever he was leading her. She noticed Lee was going to follow too. "So, you're coming as well?"

"Yes, Gai-sensei said he wanted my help." The Gai-doppelganger answered.

"Hn. Whatever.", she kept walking.

"HEY! Where are you going?", Naruto shouted.

Mika stopped momentarily and turned to face him and Kakashi, both of which were left standing there, confused and curious. "Business. Why don't you train or something, God knows you need it.", she laughed at him and walked away.

"Don't worry Naruto. You're going to beat this test.", Kakashi told him.

"You're gonna train me and teach me some cool awesome unbeatable technique?"

"No, there's no need to."

Naruto stared at him. _What the hell is talking about? I can't win without any cool moves._, he thought.

Kakashi proceeded to explain his logic. "She said that there was no rule as to 'how' you knock your opponent down. Simply put, you have to appear to be cleverer than the competition."

"How do I do that?" The spiky-haired brat whined.

"Don't worry about it, you have Sakura and I helping you. We'll make sure you win. Just don't be so lazy like you were today. Fight nonstop until the very end.", he replied as he walked back to town. _A fifth opponent? I wonder who. And where did Gai and Lee take her? She's already admitted that she is willing to cheat to win, and she knows that I'm willing to cheat too. What is she up to?_

-Back in Town-

Sakura was talking to TenTen, Shino, and Kiba. "Please, guys. It's the only way to make sure Naruto wins."

"Tell me again, why exactly should I care if he wins this bet again.", Kiba was irritated with the idea of taking a fall.

"No, that's not how it is." Sakura was getting frustrated a bit. "Look, Mika made a bet with Tsunade. If Naruto wins, Mika has to be a ninja again. That is a good thing. You saw how fast she reacted to TenTen's attack and she says that she is out of practice right now. We need ninja as good as her around here. Naruto has no idea that there is a bet, and he can't find out. He's really kind of like a pawn in all of this."

"I'm in", TenTen smiled. "I want to see what she's made of and if all I have to do is take a fall, no problem."

"What will happen if Naruto loses?", Shino asked.

"Well, Mika would then get to ignore her responsibility to the village without punishment. She wants to stay a writer and nothing more. I don't believe her, but she says that she doesn't like to fight.", Sakura answered.

"Dude ,that is such a lie. She is so just like Naruto. There is no way she hates fighting.", Kiba scoffed. "I'm in."

"I guess I'm in as well.", Shino conceded. "But what about Lee? He wouldn't disobey Gai would he?"

"I'll talk to Lee, later.", Sakura insisted. "Thank you all so much. So all of you understand just what is going to happen?" The group nodded their heads. "O.k. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Bye."

* * *

**How did we like it, loyal readers? Not the best chapter, but certainly not the worst. Reviews? I'd like to get some good press if at all earned.**


	24. Reconnect

**(smiles sweetly) I just think it's the cutest thing when a guy carries a girl cause she's tired.**

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Chapter 23: Reconnect

Walking home after her first training session with Gai and Lee was like walking through Hell. Every muscle, every tendon, every organ, and every vein was in pain. She couldn't even think thoughts; she was in so much pain. Therefore, the walk home was incredibly quiet, with the exception of her stomach. Mika hadn't eaten since the morning and that was her first mistake. Several times during the training she had meant to take a break and eat something, but they just kept going so she didn't want to stop either. She was walking home with her hands in her pockets and her head tilted down. It was already dark outside, making it harder to see since she was having trouble focusing anyway.

A thought managed to escape her starved mind. _A small light wouldn't hurt any._ She made a small spark hover in front of her, lighting her way down the street. _Now I won't trip on a rock._ She must have had some kind of a store of energy for so many thoughts to be passing through her mind.

Turning the corner she walked straight into a person and fell down, flat on her behind. "Ouch… that hurt,", Mika slowly spoke, "I think." She wasn't sure because everything hurt anyway. "A lot of good my light did. I still fell down.", she sighed as she looked up to see who she had run into. _You._, she thought. "You made me fall on purpose didn't you?"

"I would never do such a thing.", her lazy neighbor sweetly replied.

Mika's shoulders fell. "Could you at least help an injured girl up?"

"But of course.", Kakashi reached down and picked her up completely off the ground, cradling her in his arms.

"I don't need you to carry--" _What the hell am I talking about. I'm freaking tired, if he wants to carry me let him._ "Never mind, take me home, please.", she said as she curled inward and nuzzled her head against his neck. It was the first time she had been off her feet all day, except for the two hours Gai had her running on her hands; that was horrible.

"Home it is.", he answered, as he continued down the street. "So, where were you today?"

"I was with Gai.", she tiredly answered.

_What!? Why would you hang out with him? He's annoying! _"Why? If you don't mind me asking.", he calmly questioned the drowsy woman.

She was falling asleep. "Oh, just some exercise."

"Exercise or Training?"

"Training.", Mika answered, completely unaware of what she was saying. Her fatigue eliminated her ability to censor her thoughts or care about what came out of her mouth.

"Really? Why's that?" He turned down another corner to walk down their street.

"I need to 'yawn' be strong enough to hold off Naruto, for at least fifteen minutes 'yawn'."

"So the fifth opponent is…?"

"Me. I'm the only incorruptible person here. Even Gai might turn on me, if he thought it meant he would spend more time with me."

"No, if Naruto wins, you would end up spending more time with me. I'm one of his teachers after all.", he caught on to the fact that Mika had no idea what she was saying. "Mika?", he whispered.

"Yes.", she mumbled with her eyes shut.

_I want to hear the truth… _"Where did you get your tattoo?"

"My sensei gave it to me."

"When?"

She curled in tighter and whispered in his ear. "I was sixteen."

"Who was your teacher?" He didn't get an answer, she had fallen asleep. "Mika, wake up.", he gently shook her, but she was out cold. He sighed, resignedly._ At least I know a little more now._ He thought as he jumped up to her balcony. He slid the door open with his foot and carried the slumbering beauty over to her bed. The second she felt the mattress she instinctively slid off her shoes and rolled over to her side.

He pulled the covers over her and knelt by the bed looking at her face as she slept. "You're basically the same person, Mika. But something happened, didn't it? You're going to lose, and then you're going to tell me everything." He slid down his mask and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "Good night, Sparky."

That was the best night of sleep she had, had in a long time; no dreams, no memories. The first rays of sunlight came through her window and lit up her face. The light woke her up. "mmmmm", Mika murmured as she blinked several times before realizing all she had to do was roll over to avoid the sunlight.

"Hey, get up already. It's morning." She heard a voice and then felt a sudden cold burst on her face.

'Gasp!', she sat up in bed. "What the!--", she wiped a cold liquid from her face.

"Relax, it's just water."

She was fairly disoriented at the moment. "Huh?"_I always hated this guy, you know_? Mika pinched the spot between her eyes. _Oh, so you decided to come back, eh? __It took a lot to keep you alive, but yea._

"Water. You know the stuff that you can drink."

She looked up at her early morning visitor. "Yeah, no, I know what water is, but why is it on my face at this ungodly, untimely hour?"

"Because I wanted to wake you up, but I was scared that you would hit me. So I woke you up from a distance."

"Oh, o.k. that makes sense." Then she came back to her senses. "Wait! What the hell are you doing in here, Kakashi?!"

"You don't lock your balcony door." He stood there with a squirt gun in his hand.

"Out! Now!", she demanded, but not moving from the bed.

"Sure, if you meet me downstairs." He pointed down to the floor.

Mika gave an apprehensive look. She couldn't help the feeling that something had changed in the way he treated her since she had returned. "… why?"

"Well, seeing as how you spent the whole day yesterday with Gai, and how you're going to do the same thing this afternoon. I figured you could spend the morning with me; catch up on old times in such."

The idea made her smile and all her preconceptions went out the window. "M'kay. But seriously, get out. I'll meet you outside in ten minutes."

He turned and walked out the front door to her apartment, instead of out the terrace door like he came in; probably to get a look around the place. Then again, who's to say he didn't already snoop around while she had slept?

_Man, I hate falling asleep in my clothes. I must have been so tired when I made it home that I didn't even bother to change or take a shower. _

_Hehehe, I remember what happened._

_What? _

_I'm not telling you._

…_.fucker. _

_Hehehe, I love it when you curse! Not like that… that…. Hatake._

_Lay off of him and just shut up. _

Clearly, she had no memory of last night's events. She climbed out of bed and shut the doors leading to her room, locked the windows, and just for good measure, closed the curtains. _Well, of all the people to break into my room, at least it was him and not someone who would actually hurt me. _Thoughts of people whom she knew would love to see her in pain or worse, flashed through her mind. She started the shower. 'sigh' "God that feels good.", she said as the hot water soothed her aching muscles. The pain was much more tolerable this morning; one great thing about that monster inside her, it made getting back in shape a breeze.

Mika took longer than she had meant to in the shower, so she quickly got dressed, grabbed her satchel, and dashed downstairs. "Sorry, I kept you waiting. I usually shower at night."

"Is that so?", he asked while he linked his arm with hers and led her down the street.

"Yea, I must have been too tired or something." _Oh, wait, he doesn't know about my training. Shut up, Mika!_, she thought to herself.

_Wow, she's not kidding. She doesn't even remember talking to me last night. Too bad, wish I could gloat about how she gave away her secret plan._ He looked over at her; she was staring at their linked arms. "Nostalgic, huh?", he asked.

"You have no idea." God_, you have no idea how much I missed knowing you._

"I guess you're right. I've never had to live without myself." _But I have had to live without you, if anything, you don't understand._

Mika laughed at what he said. "Oh but of course, it was awful not being able to hear you talk about how awesome you are all the time. You are still so full of yourself.", she said pushing him sideways.

"So says the hotshot, bestselling, billionaire author.", he returned the sarcasm.

"I wish I had a ten digit salary. Sadly I'm stuck with only six.", she bragged.

"Since when do you care about money?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I don't really. But it makes the world go round, so it's wise to keep some of it on hand at all times." She looked around when she noticed that there were no more houses around. "Where are you taking me?"

"This place, you're going to like it." He dropped her arm and held her hand instead.

"We'll see.", she looked straight ahead. He led her all the way out of the village and then followed a small river to the west, before veering off with one of the even smaller streams, into a quiet little thicket of citrus trees.

_Wow_, she thought as she looked at the grove. There was just the right amount of sunlight and shade. All of the trees were full of fruit and the entire area smelt absolutely divine. Everywhere around there were oranges, grapefruits, lemons, and limes. "You were right."

"I always am." _I knew it. She loves it here!_

"I love it here.", she smiled as she jumped up to grab an orange off of one of the trees. Mika began to dig at the skin of the fruit but gave up because it was getting messy. "Got a knife?", she half asked, half begged with a sweet smile. He was sitting a few feet away, leaning against some rocks.

"Yea, come here." She tossed the half-peeled orange at him. He caught it, then looked at her and repeated himself, "Come here."

"Oh, ha, you meant me?", she laughed as she walked over and sat down next to him. _What are you doing? Get away from him. I don't like him!__ Shut it!_

He peeled the orange and handed it back to her. She ate a piece of the fruit as she leaned into his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her while she tore apart her breakfast. The feelings of comfort and protection went well with the vitamin C.

"So what's the verdict?", Mika asked as she stuffed another piece of fruit into her mouth.

"What do you mean?", he squeezed her arm.

"How much have I really changed?", she looked him in the eye, "I want to know the truth. What do you think?"

"Well,…", he said picking her up and setting her down on his lap, "I think that I don't know anything about you."

"…oh, I see.", she looked away with the saddest eyes anyone had ever seen. _With all the lies I've told, I can't blame you._, she thought.

"But, I do know that you are fundamentally the same girl I knew all those years ago. A lot can happen in fifteen years, but whatever happened to you, didn't change who you really are deep down."

Mika sighed and smiled as she laid her head against his chest. "You haven't changed at all either.", she said as she feed him the last of the orange. "So, come on and tell me all about everyone here. I want to catch up".

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**Oldies know what's coming next, newbies: prepare to be shocked (somewhat… unless you're not easily shocked. Then just read as you usually do.) Reviews? Come on ya'll, I need 'em to get lazier readers! lol**


	25. The Perils of Passion

**This chapter remastered to improve flow and realism… seriously though; I still blush from the fact that I wrote it. And it's not even that graphic at all.**

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Chapter 24: The Perils of Passion

-Hidden from View-

"To think, this is the first time I have ever seen you smile."

A pair of red eyes was hidden among the shadows of the forest, near the citrus grove where Mika was eating breakfast with Kakashi. Neither of them was aware that they were being watched; the person hid his presence perfectly.

"I was around you constantly for four months and never did you even so much as smirk.", the eyes slowly blinked. "Are you faking it for his sake or are you truly happy right now?", he continued to talk to Mika without intentions of getting a reply.

"So are we going to attack them or something, Itachi?", Kisame asked as he walked up to his partner.

"No. Be quiet.", he answered. _Just look at her, it's so out of character. I remember her being cold, heartless, and cruel. Here she is now, smiling and…_ She shouted out in laughter as Kakashi started to grab her knees; she was ticklish there and only he knew that. _…laughing. Why do I need to see this?_

Kisame was watching the scene as well. "Why are we here?"

"Because Leader ordered us to observe, so we are observing." _Stupid Kisame; Madara told me to watch her, he said it would be interesting._

-Back with the Lovebirds--

"Gahhh! NOoooo!", Mika struggled and kicked in retaliation to Kakashi squeezing her knees. She started to scream in laughter, "I'm gonna fall! Quit!" She fell off the rocks they were both sitting on, down onto the soft grass of the citrus grove. "Ufff.", she grunted as she hit the ground, facing up to look at him still perched on the rocks, staring at her. "Look at what you did.", she scolded him.

"I wish I could take credit for something so… what's the word?", he tapped his chin, feigning deep thought.

"Gorgeous, ravishing, enigmatically sexy?", her rich 'author thesaurus' of a brain offered.

"… cute.", he finished his sentence.

"You suck at giving compliments." _Yes he does, so why are you still talking to him?_

"No, I'm really good at it, you're just to self-centered to notice.", he smiled.

Mika laughed, "Yeah that's true. But you can't blame me. I am a goddess after all.", she was referring to the incarnation of the god of lightning sealed inside of her.

"I'd say you are Nike."

Mika stared at him blankly. "First off, that is a really lame line. Where did you get it? Jiraiya?"

_Burn!_

"Secondly, I admit that I can be lame too; so let me pose this question, why, of all the Greek gods, do you chose one as obscure as Nike? Why not pick one like, Artemis, Aphrodite, or Athena?"

He decided to mock her list of reasoning. "First, they are over used by so many people. Second, they are incredibly complex characters and you are simple—"

"I take it, that's another one of your compliments?", she said with sarcasm rolling off her tongue.

"Yes, and thirdly,", he stood up and reached his hand down to help her stand as well. "Nike is the goddess of victory. And if it's one thing I undoubtedly know about you,", he pulled her in close to him. Mika's eyes widened ever so slightly and she felt her face heat up as she realized just how close she was to him. "You always win, even when you lose." His right hand was on her neck and his left arm wrapped around her waist, holding her against him.

Her hands were pressed against his chest as she considered her options. _If I lower my arms, I'll break his hold on me._

_Lower your Goddamn arms!_

_But if I raise them around his neck… I want to, but… I don't want him to regret this when he finds out what kind of a person I was, all of the things that I've done._ She could feel his breath against her face; his mask down revealing those perfect features that only a privileged few have ever seen, herself included. It made her heart beat faster. It was entirely her choice. _Choose, Mika. Damn it, choose._, she told herself.

-Hidden in the Forest -

"All they are doing is talking.", Kisame complained.

"Be quiet.", Itachi answered him coldly without looking away from Mika, lying in the grass.

"We have been here for four hours, watching them eat fruit and talk. They aren't going to do anything else, so I say we either kill 'em or we leave. I'm sick of standing around watching them."

Itachi's red eyes shot an evil glare at Kisame. "I rarely ask anything of you, but so help me if you give away our presence by your incessant speech, I'll break your legs and leave you to those two wolves there.", he said pointing in their direction.

"O.k., o.k. You don't have to tell me twice.", he hurriedly spoke. "I guess I didn't realize how important it is for you to watch two people make out."

Itachi couldn't turn back around, to face Mika, fast enough. _What the fuck is she doing? Is this what Madara wanted me to see? _He calmed down some. _Hn. So you really have gone native. A shame really, you were a much better partner than sushi-for-brains here._ He turned back to Kisame. "Come on." He started to walk away.

"Back to Headquarters?", the shark asked.

"Not yet, we'll leave later tonight. There's still something I want to do."

-You 'so' know what's going on here-

Curiosity got the better of Mika and her arms wrapped around his neck as her lips crashed into his.

_Stop now, Mika! I'm warning you._

Everything around them melted away. The two of them exchanged kisses, each time the intensity of which increased. He licked her bottom lip, asking politely, but she refused. Pushing back for a quick breath, she teased. "Aren't we eager?" _I knew there was something different about how he treated me._

He leaned into her ear and whispered seductively, "If only you knew." _To think that I had lost you all those years ago, only to get this second chance… I won't waste it._

Not two seconds later, he pushed her back into a nearby tree. She gasped from the impact; his tongue gently but forcefully explored her mouth. Not to be outdone, Mika fought back; however playfully. The two of them were in perfect sync; his hands holding her sides tightly, her hands digging through his hair. However brief it was, it was perfect... passionate.

But something in the back of Mika's mind was off. He moved down to her neck and she opened her eyes only to see her right hand behind his back. _Oh my god! My hand!_, she gasped at the sight, but given the situation he didn't notice the fear in it. Her nails had turned black and extended to a length of at least two inches; they were claws. She was breathing heavily, trying desperately to calm herself down. _Slow down, deep breaths; if I could just relax a little bit maybe my hand will go back to normal… Damn it, think mundane-bore me to death-patch of grass thoughts!_

She was staring intently at her hand. She was so focused that she didn't notice that he had stopped and was looking at her with a concerned look on his face.

"You alright?", he asked.

"Huh? What?... Yea, fine. Well, I mean… great…. Um?", she was trying not to panic_. If he sees this,…oh god I don't want to imagine. How embarrassing. __I warned you._

He reached up and grabbed her wrists. This caused her to completely freak out so she pushed past him; quickly hiding her right hand under her shirt and stay facing away from him.

"Are you sure everything is o.k.?" He reached for her shoulder, but she instantly swiveled around to face him again.

"Yea, I'm good. Never better.", she blurted out awkwardly.

"I'm glad you're alright, but what's with your hand?"

"My what?"

"Your hand. Let me see.", he reached forward. For every step he took toward her, she took one back.

She ended up backed into a tree again, but before he reached her, she managed to kick up one leg to his chest; holding him back. "It's nothing, don't worry about it." Mika's eyes started to dart over her surroundings; the position of the sun caught her interest.

"I'm not worried, I'm curious, come here."

"Why is the sun at nearly its highest point?", she asked looking back down to Kakashi.

"Because that is what the sun does. It moves across the sky.", he grabbed her leg and slid it over. Reaching out, he pulled her hand out from under her shirt. It looked utterly normal. "You're strange at times, do you know that?", he raised his eyebrow at the no longer frazzled blonde.

"I may be strange, but you have no sense of time. It's fifteen till noon, I'm late." She pulled her arm from his hands and picked up her bag and started to run back towards the village.

She ran up to the awaiting group with excuses already pouring from her mouth. "I am so sorry I'm late ya'll, really. I lost track of time. It will never happen again."

"Where were you? I looked everywhere.", Gai asked.

"I uh… was out… uh…", she scrambled to decide if she wanted to tell the truth or not. _I'm so sick of deciding if I should lie or not. I swear I'm going to hell for this._

A pair of hands gripped her shoulder. "I took her out to breakfast this morning. It ran a little long. Once you get her talking, she just won't shut up.", Kakashi saved her from whatever ridiculous lie she would have made up.

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle 'black'.", she retorted and shrugged his hands off of her.

"Breakfast? It's lunch time and you expect me to believe that you are late to MY very important test, because of breakfast?", Naruto crossed his arms and stared at her like he was trying desperately to understand.

"I wouldn't think too hard about it," Mika walked toward him, "if you want all fifteen of your minutes today.", she whispered into his ear with a threatening tone. This stopped his thoughts, not that they were moving terribly fast.

"What? No, you can't do that." He protested.

"I can and I will if you are not fighting with TenTen in the next ten seconds. Go!" Naruto and TenTen ran out to the field and started to fight.

Mika sat down next to a tree and took out some water from her bag. The run, among other things, had made her extremely thirsty. Gai sat down next to her while everyone else loitered around, watching the fight. Or in Kakashi's case, watching Mika from the corner of his visible eye.

"So you were out to breakfast this entire morning?", Gai asked Mika.

"…. yea.", she absently responded; she was a bit preoccupied with her right hand. She was cracking her knuckles and examining ever inch of it, looking for any sign of that monster inside of her.

_What the hell was that?_, she thought. _I've never had that happen before, then again… I've never kissed anyone like that before either. I have to figure this out. It would be too risky to let it happen again. _

_I can tell you what happened._

_What did you do?! _

_I didn't do anything, it was all you. Every time you get riled up like that, you lose concentration and I get more room to move about._

_Why would you do that? _

_Because I hate that guy. Have you even been listening to me?_

_Why do you hate him? He never did anything to you. _

_I don't need a reason, but if you want one… it's the same reason I don't like Naruto. You making bonds with people that you will eventually leave. I don't like that._

_Leave Naruto out of this. If you so much as think about hurting him in any way… I'll kill us both. _

_O.k. o.k. chill out, I'll leave the kid out….jeez._

_Be quiet for like 20 minutes, please._

"Did you hurt your hand?", Gai inquired again and reached forward for her hand.

Mika jumped up holding her hand close to her chest. "What? No! What is it with you people and my hand? Just leave it be!" Everyone, except the two fighting, was now staring at her. "Uhhhh…. Sorry.", she weakly laughed. "Low blood sugar.", she offered as an excuse with a small smile and a look of mild paranoia as she turned back around to watch the fight, shoving her hands into her pockets.

Sakura nudged Kakashi in the arm, "Was she like that all morning?"

"Not all morning, but yes." He turned to face her. "Find out why." She nodded and slowly glided next to the mildly embarrassed woman.

"Mika?", Sakura softly spoke.

"Hm.", she looked at her.

"I was wondering how your arm has been doing since the surgery."

"Oh, it finished healing yesterday. You were right, it did scar, but it's not too bad."

"Good, I was kind of worried since you were being so defensive about your hand."

_I know where this is headed._ "Who sent you over here?"

"I don't know what you mean.", Sakura nervously answered.

Mika sighed deeply and reached into her bag to pull out another one of her notebooks. "Here's chapters 2 thru 4, enjoy.", she smiled as you tossed Sakura the book. The pink-haired girl let out a squeal of joy as she instantly sat down and started to read intently. Mika looked at her sitting down and then looked up to see who noticed her sudden change in demeanor, but she was distracted by a loud noise coming from the field.

"WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!"

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… **Reviews? I really want to know if that 'part' was any good! Technically it's my second attempt, but it's just a rewrite of the first attempt.**


	26. Day Two of Five

Chapter 25: Day Two of Five

Mika was speechless. Staring out at the field, she could clearly see that Naruto had managed to knock TenTen down.

The two of them came walking back, TenTen slower than Naruto because of the look on Mika's face. "Ha! In your face!", Naruto shouted at her from just two feet away.

"Don't get so cocky.", Mika responded through gritted teeth. "You still have four more opponents and only three more days."

"What are you talking about? I can beat every one of them today!"

Her eyes narrowed. "I'd like to see you try. Go on, get back out there, I'm sick of looking at you. I'll send someone in a minute." He gave a big smile and proudly walked away again. She turned on TenTen and nearly exploded. "What the hell was that!? You are, like, a million times more capable of a ninja than him!"

"He caught me off guard, sorry.", she timidly responded and stood behind Lee. She kept giving a side glance to Sakura, which Mika noticed.

There was a good minute of silence as she glared at the bunch. _All of them, corrupt. Naruto really must have a lot of friends. Grrr._ "Fine.", she announced to the group. "I can play this game too." She swiveled around to face Kiba. "Puppy, get out there and -don't-fall-down. ¿Entienda?"

"Uh…", he didn't understand the language.

"Yes, he understands. Now stop scaring them. Go on Kiba.", Kakashi saved him from an impending smack on the head from Mika. Kiba took off and started to fight Naruto.

"Remember! Don't Fall Down!", she shouted after him.

"That was a little harsh, Mika.", Gai tapped her shoulder.

"Harsh? You don't know the meaning of the word. Honestly, I was just trying to warn him." Mika turned to look at TenTen. "Hey? You know I'm not actually mad at you, right?"

"You're not?"

"Nah. I've got way bigger problems than you taking a dive to help out your friend.", she glanced at Sakura. "And by friend, I mean Sakura."

The pink-haired girl's head popped up from the manuscript that Mika had given her to read. "Did you call me, Mika?"

"Yes.", she sweetly replied. "How are you enjoying the book so far?"

"It's wonderful. But are you seriously foreshadowing the death of the main character? I mean, you can't be serious! That would ruin the lives of so many people!"

"People or characters?", Mika laughed at her.

"Both!", she laughed with.

"Well, I haven't decided yet. You are only on chapter three." The fight caught the corner of Mika's eye and she whipped back around to face it. It looked like Kiba was about to 'accidentally' lose his balance. "Oh no you don't.", she muttered to herself. She stretched her open right hand in front of her and faced it down toward the earth. Instantly the earth swallowed Kiba's feet, stopping him from falling down.

"What the hell?", he screamed. The earth started to turn and rotate him out of the way of Naruto's attacks. It even raised him up on pillars and down into pits, but never allowing him to fall down.

"How are you doing that, Mika-chan?", Lee asked.

"Earth element. I've been doing things like this since I was five.", she widely grinned.

"Since you were eight.", Kakashi corrected her.

"Ahem? Where do you get off telling me when I learned things? I was five. I never told anyone till I was eight. I didn't want to anyone to know, until I was an expert at it." She turned around and smiled at him, "Don't you remember how clumsy Anko got when she was around me?"

"That was you?"

"And she deserved every last black eye.", Mika grinned even wider.

Sakura had finished reading the notebook and was putting it back in Mika's bag. "Why would you trip Anko-sensei?", she asked.

"Well… in short…", she thought for a moment. "I hated her."

"But why?"

The old memories flashed through Mika's mind. "She was the only kid in school with guts enough to bully me. So I did what I could to fight back; which, in comparison, was next to nothing really. I just tripped her… a lot."

"So she called you names and you used your ninjutsu to hurt her? That's harsh."

Mika shook her head back and forth. "Ya'll really don't understand the word 'harsh'. She called me names, but she also threw things at me. You know, like, spitballs, pencils… shuriken. But I don't hold anything against her now. Poor girl got assigned to that snake-fucker."

"Language!", Kakashi scolded.

"Oh come off it! Everyone here agrees with that assessment." She turned to face the group while keeping her hand facing the ground. "Have you ever talked to that bastard? He is what he is.", Mika turned back around to face the fight. "TWO MINUTE WARNING!", she shouted.

"When did you meet him, Mika?", Sakura was interested.

"I got around when I was younger." Mika paused a second, contemplating the double entendre of that statement.

Kakashi coughed to hide a snicker.

"But not like that.", she added curtly. "I believe it was in the Rain Country that I met him." She reflected on the time that she met him, "You know, even though he is completely disillusioned about his own abilities and entitlements; he can make pretty intriguing conversation."

_Yet another secret revealed. I just hope they don't get any worse than that one._, Kakashi thought to himself.

"You had a 'conversation' with him?", Gai was dumbfounded.

"Well, I had to do something to delay him. He was going to kill me and I had to figure out a means of surviving.", she turned to look at him. "This was nearly a decade ago; I haven't seen him since."

_Wow, that lie just popped out of nowhere. 'I had to delay him'? __God that's weak._

She used her left hand to look at her stopwatch. "O.K.! Time's Up!", she shouted to the fighting pair as she released Kiba from the earth. He fell down immediately.

Less than a second later, Naruto was in Mika's face being loud; again. "What was that about?! That's cheating!"

"It's not cheating, if I change the rules.", she slyly smiled.

"What? You can't change the rules!"

"Uh, yes I can. Allow me to reiterate, my test, my rules. I can do whatever I want.", she ruffled his hair. "How about I give you another advantage?"

"Fine.", he pouted.

"I decided that your fifth opponent will be… me."

_How original,_ Kakashi thought. _This is going to so much easier now._

"I can't fight you! You've got years of experience!"

"Well, according to the village records, I'm only a chunnin. So how could I possibly be any more difficult to defeat than your friends here?"

"This is bullshit.", he muttered.

"Hey!", she hit him on top of his head. "I don't ever want to hear you curse."

"Why not? You curse all the time."

"First, I'm already going to hell, so it doesn't matter. And secondly, it suits me to curse.", she looked at him. "Who taught you that word?"

Of course he had already known that word for a long time, but for the hell of it he answered. "You did.", he smirked.

"Oh.", Mika laughed nervously. "Still, no more cursing; I'll try to cut back on it some, myself. Now then, uh, we're done for today, see ya'll here tomorrow." The group started to disperse.

She gave her nephew a hug. "Au revoir mon cher."

He just stared at her. "Exactly how many weird languages do you speak?"

She laughed lightly, "I've lost count. I just told you 'Goodbye my dear'."

"O.k. goodbye oba-chan.", he took off to go eat.

_Awww…. He called me his aunt._, Mika thought giddily. Gai and Lee walked up to either side of her.

"Ready?", Gai asked.

"I think we should double the workload today, Gai-sensei.", Lee proposed.

"Well I think that we should triple it.", Mika added.

"We should quadruple it!", Lee shouted.

"NO! We should quintuple it!", she laughed but was serious.

"Calm down you two.", Gai smiled as he led the both of them off to where they practiced. "To be fair, we'll just decuple (ten times) our training. Sound good?"

"Yes sir!", they saluted, though Mika did it in a more goofy fashion.

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**Opinions? I only accept them in Review/PM form.**


	27. A Comrade's Promise

**Yay! Another chapter improved!**

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Chapter 26: A Comrade's Promise

Walking home that night was way easier than how the night before was. Mika was wide awake from all of the adrenaline and endorphins in her system and she was sure that she had lost at least five pounds from the excessive exercise and limited food. With her hands propped up on top of her head she thought, _'sigh' I've always loved the way I feel after an intense workout. _She laughed to herself. _Nothing can make me feel bad right now._

Of course she spoke too soon. Mika was only a block from her apartment, when there was a quick breeze to her right. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that she was now being accompanied by her ever nosey neighbor, his eyes glued to his favorite book.

"So.", he spoke casually.

"So.", she answered. _Gah! How awkward. Why am I always the dork?! __You are a dork, I am not. I'm awesome._

"How was your training?"

"Splendid. How was your evening?" _I will not be a dork. I refuse!_

"Eh. Could have been better."

"That bad, huh?" _I am the cool one here! You had a bad evening; I had a fun one. I am cooler. __In all honesty, even though I hate him. He is way cooler than you. Sorry… but not really, hehehehe._

"Not bad, just boring waiting for you to finish and come back."

_W-what? W-wait-ting for me???? Oh god don't let this turn sour!!! __Stay focused, and I won't sneak out and ruin it for you._ "Well, I'm here now. What's up?", Mika asked calmly.

"I just wanted to know if we're cool or not."

"Yea, we're good. Why wouldn't we be?" _What the hell! Of course I know why we wouldn't be. Why the hell did I just say that?!_

"I don't know. Maybe it was the panic attack you had earlier, over your hand. Or was there a better reason and the hand was just a distraction?" He glanced up from his book and started to put it away.

Mika reached the front door to her building and dropped her arms down to her sides. "No, it really was my hand.", she held it out in front of herself.

He grabbed it with both of his hands. "So what was wrong?"

"Ummm….", she bit her lip. _What do I say? Oh yeah, you see, while you were kissing me, my hand turned into a claw because I temporarily lost control over the psycho demon inside of me. I only could have, maybe, torn off your face. No big deal._ _Sounds good to me._ "… my hand. It kind of wasn't mine for a minute there."

"You're going to have to be more specific.", he squeezed her hand a little.

Mika sighed quietly under her breath. "For being an author, I sure do suck with words.", she mumbled aside to herself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing.", she blurted. "Uh… it would be easier to just show you.", she looked away as she let the smallest amount of the Rokubi's chakra flow into her right hand. Instantly the change was obvious. Her hand had two inch, black claws and the slightest glow of light coming from underneath the skin. With her head still turned away in embarrassment, "I, sort of, lost control and I… uh… didn't want what happened in Kumo to happen again."

"Is that it?", he callously asked.

Mika's eyes shot up to look at him. _Kill him right now! Just one quick swipe!_ "What do you mean 'is that it?' I could have killed you! How can you be so insensitive?" He just looked at her with his one eye, silently. _God damn it. I just screwed this up didn't I? I am such a loser._ She sighed with an air of defeat as her eyes drifted back down to the ground at her feet and her back fell against the wall of the building behind her.

He still had a hold on her hand. "Don't be silly, Sparky. I'm already well aware of that… uh, what's the politically correct word?"

"Personally I like to call it 'loud', but Demonic presence will suffice." She continued to look away, not noticing where the conversation was headed.

"Yes, well. I'm very much aware of what makes you so 'special'. I guess we will just have to be more careful.", he leaned in closer to her.

Mika looked up to realize that there was only an inch between him and her. A smile found its way onto her lips. "You're not messing with me, are you?"

"Why would I want to do that? It's too dangerous to do something like that." He smiled from behind his mask.

"Because you have the same sense of humor as I do. And it can be pretty messed up at times.", she giggled. _Ughhh did I seriously just giggle? What am I? Sixteen?__ Emotionally, yes. But that's a different story._

"No, I'm not playing; per say." He leaned in and gave her a short sweet kiss on the lips, sliding his mask down just long enough to fulfill that purpose. "Goodnight, Sparky."

"Goodnight.", she choked on the word. _Damn it, I'm such a dork. _He turned around and walked across the street while she fumbled with the door to her own building. _Oh damn you door open!_ It popped open before she started kicking it. _Thank you. I love you. I'm sorry I cursed at you._, she thought of apologies to the door. That is how completely hopeless she was when it came to emotional things.

Mika ran up to her apartment, as happy as could be. She threw her bag on the couch and ate a few grapes from the fridge before jumping into the shower.

She was humming the tune to 'Time After Time by Quietdrive' in the shower, when she heard footsteps in the other room. _He wouldn't dare._, she thought. _Hn, make 'em wait._, she chuckled to herself. Twenty minutes later Mika turned off the water, wrapped up in a towel and walked out to the living room to greet her guest.

"Hello?" There was no one there. _O.k. this is creepy._ "Hello. I know you're there.", she called out through her apartment as she turned on all of the lights. _Hn. I guess I was just hearing things._ She turned to go to the bedroom when all of the lights went out at the same time. _Gah! Wtf! Ha.. haha.._, she kept her nervousness to herself.

"Hello comrade… or is it Mika, now.", she heard a cold, simple voice call to her from the other side of the room. The nervous smile left her face. _You're kidding me. Why now? __Thank God! Itachi, please talk some sense into this girl._

Standing there in the dark with nothing on but her towel, Mika slowly turned back around to face the uninvited guest. "Sashiburi, Itachi."

"Did I catch you at a bad time?", he tilted his head and looked her over.

"Well it is the middle of the night and I'm kind of not dressed.", she looked around the rest of the room. "Where's your pet catfish?"

"He's waiting outside the village. I wanted to talk to you, alone."

She gestured for him to take a seat in a chair, while she sat down on the couch across from him. There was a low coffee table between the two of them.

"I hope I didn't have you waiting too long.", Mika broke the silence with small talk, even though she hated small talk.

"What are you doing here?" He asked plainly.

"Straight to the point, just like I like it.", she looked him in the eyes; a defiant gesture from the old days. "I'm here for several reasons. Would you care to hear them?"

"Please, enlighten me."

"Some blonde Akatsuki prick killed all of my friends in Kumo, Madara-sensei told me to run to Konoha, a team of five ninja from here were sent to retrieve me anyways, and where the hell else am I going to go since the Raikage probably wants me dead for nearly destroying his village?" _Like hell I'm going to tell him about Naruto._

"You don't remember that 'blonde prick'?"

"Should I?"

"Deidara. We recruited him about two weeks after we picked up those kids in the Rain Country. Afterwards we got Sasori."

"Correction: We split up after we picked up those Rain brats. You must have gotten Deidara, because I remember going to the Sand Country to invite Sasori."

Itachi leaned back in his chair. "That's right, we did split up that one time, didn't we?"

She sighed, "As much as I love reminiscing with you about 'old times', if you don't mind me asking, what you are doing here?"

"Two reasons, do you want to hear them?" Mika nodded and closed her eyes momentarily so that he wouldn't see her roll them. "First, for some reason, Madara wanted me to come here under the direction to observe. And secondly, I've grown tired of Kisame."

She adjusted herself on the couch, careful to not let the towel slide in any direction she didn't want it to. "Are you asking if I'll take you back?", she spoke in a coy fashion as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hn.", was his response. "I'm offering you, your former position in Akatsuki."

"Not to say I'm ungrateful that you would consider me, but why would I leave Konoha? They actually want me here; I didn't just come running home on my own, you know."

"Do they know what you are?"

"A forgotten daughter, a lost kunoichi of Konoha?", Mika answered his question with another, though she felt what was coming.

"A monster like me.", he coolly responded.

She glared at him. "I am a completely different kind of monster from you.", her words like venom.

"I know that. But do you honestly believe that they will be able to discern, the fact, that you are not me?"

She couldn't stop her eyes from dodging away from his gaze. It was quiet for several minutes, the moonlight coming through the windows made the scene appear like a still photo.

"You haven't told them about your time in Akatsuki, have you?", his voice blended into the silence.

"No, not yet, but I do plan on it.", she brought her eyes back to meet his.

"And I'd suppose there is nothing I can do to stop you?"

"No, I'll tell them anything they want to know.", Mika spoke defiantly, trying to retain her composure.

"I don't care if you tell them, I only wished to spare you the pain of their betrayal.", he stood up. "They will betray you. They will imprison you, interrogate you like a criminal, and show you no mercy." He walked over to where she was sitting; her eyes never left him. Standing over her he made a simple promise. "When they turn their backs on you, I'll come back and free you."

"They won't.", she forced the blind faith from her lips; her eyes again shot back out the window looking across the street.

"You mean 'he won't', don't you?"

Her eyes drifted down to the floor; her head still turned away from her guest. "Don't."

"What? Do you think he would betray his village for you?"

"You shouldn't talk about things you will never understand, things you will never experience.", Mika answered him coldly.

_There's the girl I remember. She's still in there somewhere._, he thought as she spoke. "Fine.", he placed his hand on her shoulder. "A word of advice; enjoy paradise while it lasts for you, for soon enough it will be lost." His hand slid down her arm and away from her. Turning to see where he was standing, Mika knew that he was already gone.

Slowly she curled her feet under her legs as she let her head fall down onto the couch. Thoughts, of what was, what is, and what could be, put her to sleep.

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**This chapter is rather important to the storyline! Remember it in twenty chapters!**


	28. He Doesn't Get It

**A whole bunch of edits in this one. I think I made it funnier! (proudly smiles at herself in the mirror) "Snaps for the author!"**

Chapter 27: He Doesn't Get It

Mika slept for, maybe, four or five hours before she couldn't stand lying on the couch anymore. But instead of going back to her bed, she decided to get dressed and ready for the day. Breakfast was nice that early, because she had time to fry up some eggs and sit down and enjoy the meal. She finished eating and went to pack her bag for the day.

_Oh, that's right, I haven't been writing anything! I had better write something or else my publisher will have my ass._ Mika grabbed her latest notebook and sat at the kitchen table trying to remember in what direction she had wanted the story to go.

_God, I don't even know why I write romance novels. I'm not even a real romantic. I much prefer the cut and dry, 'yes, I like you' or the 'no, I don't like you'. _

_How about you add some violence?_

_O.k., let's see. To kill off or not to kill off; that is the question. O.k. you die._, she told the character in her story. She was getting re-accustomed to tolerating the voice in her head; even conversing with it more often.

_Why not break a few hearts, besides; I really don't want to write a fourth book. _The idea sank in some. _I probably won't live long enough to complete a fourth._ She sighed and started to write in her notebook, the words kept flowing from the pen and she ended up breaking open another book. The sun rose and her hand started to cramp up from the nonstop writing.

"Ow.. ow.. ow...", she stood up and ran her hand under some hot water to relieve the pain.

"Is that hand of yours bothering you again?"

She jumped and gasped, completely unaware that anyone else was in the room.

"Sorry, didn't mean to make you jump.", Kakashi gave her a quick peck on the cheek, before sitting down on the kitchen countertop.

"I'm going to put a bell on you.", she turned and dried her hand off. "And I think I might start locking my doors and windows.", she said this thinking more of last night's guest.

"You are so grouchy in the morning."

"Not every morning.", Mika answered while sitting back down at the table. "I had a rough night. " She smiled with her chin resting on her propped up hands, "No need to worry. It's all over and done with now." _Could have been a better night if you had been a bit more receptive to Itachi's offer._

"Hmmm. Nothing serious you say?" She got a bored response.

"Yea.", she waved off the concern in his voice. "So… what drove you to commit the felony of breaking and entering into my place… again?"

"Besides seeing your smiling face?", he innocently looked at her. Mika nodded her head, knowingly. "I was wondering what the game plan for today was going to be."

"This morning I was going to write as much as possible in my book, and then I was going to let Naruto beat two more of his opponents and then off to training with Gai and Lee."

"You're going to 'let' him beat two more people?", he jumped down from the counter and sat across from her at the table.

She leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed, looking at him. "You can stop pretending. I know what you had Sakura do."

"I have no idea what you are talking about.", he stuck to his lie.

"You told her to talk to the other kids and convince them to take a fall.", Mika leaned forward. "And I'm totally fine with it."

Kakashi leaned forward as well. "Assuming I know what you are talking about, are you only fine with it because you don't think he can beat you?"

"Yep. If I were him, I'd quit now.", she smirked.

"You seriously don't know him. That kid would push himself to the edge of death, before he quits. In fact, he's done that before."

"Well, he'd only get his fifteen minutes to try to get to that edge." An idea for her story popped into her head. She reached across the table and grabbed her notebook, but he grabbed her arm. Mika lightly tugged at his grip to test him. "Lemme go!", she whined like a baby.

"You should write outside. The weather is beautiful.", he pulled her a few inches across the table.

She took a deep breath, "I don't want to be late again.", she pulled him forward across the table.

"So we sit where everyone is supposed to gather. We'll be the first there.", he leaned in right next to her face.

"Hmmm….", Mika pretended to think deeply. _Dude! He's so close! You thinking what I'm thinking? __hehehe good idea._"O.K.!", she pulled her arm away quickly and left the kitchen with him practically on the table. "I'll just get my bag!", she shouted from the other room.

She had left her satchel in the bedroom, so when she went to get it, she noticed the black bag on the floor under the window. _It won't come to that_, she was reminded yet again of Itachi's promise as she kicked the bag under the bed and walked back out of the room. "Ready?", she asked, only to see him standing by the front door with his arms crossed. Mika slowly walked up to him, with her chin raised. "What's with the look?"

"It's not nice to tease."

She took a second to study him. _Hold on, is he really upset or is he messing with me?_ "I… uh… was only playing.", she offered an excuse. "Forgive me?", she asked with a pout.

"I just don't know if I should." he looked away from her. _I'll get her back eventually._

_'sigh' He is way more stubborn than me and he's blocking the door. What do I do?_ _Push him out of your way? Do you seriously not know what to do here?_ Mika stood there for a few seconds before throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him. "I'm sorry. I promise I will never tease you, on purpose, ever again."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back. "Good.", he let her go.

"Well?", she looked at him expectantly.

He turned around and opened the door. "Well what?"

"Aren't you going to promise to not tease me?"

"Why would I do that? I didn't abuse the privilege.", he grabbed Mika's hand and led her out the door.

_Dumbass_, she thought. _Yes, he is._ "Had I known it was a 'privilege' perhaps I would have been more careful."

"It's not likely.", he was dragging her behind him.

"You are seriously on the brink of abusing your hand-holding privilege.", she scolded as they walked out onto the street, still being dragged behind.

Kakashi pulled her up next to him as he walked. "I wouldn't want that, but just to be safe…", he dropped her hand wrapped his arm around her waist, resting his hand just above the hip.

"That is just fine with me, so long as it doesn't drop any lower.", she gave a small look, while one thought passed through her mind, _Enjoy Paradise while it lasts_.

_Kakashi is not paradise; Itachi is way hotter!_

_Itachi is a… well, he's not my idea of paradise. He may be perfect for you, but I really do like Kakashi. So stop it.___

_I'm just trying to steer you in the best direction, like an inner guide._

_Hey, aren't you a dude? Why are you saying stuff like 'Itachi is hot.'? _

_Girls judge each other all the time; what? Guys can't do the same?_

_Not unless they don't mind being called gay…hehe, gay! _

_Stop being so mean to me! You're gonna regret it later!_

_Oooooh, I'm shaking in my boots. Hahahaha._

"Come on." Kakashi leading the way, they walked out to the training field. Most of the shops that they passed were still closed, but a few were just starting to open. At one in particular, the flower girl stared at the two of them with bug eyes, but they didn't take any notice of her.

-Later that Morning-

Ino was working in her family's flower shop when Sakura stopped by just to say hi for no real reason.

"Good morning, Ino.", Sakura happily greeted.

"Good morning Sakura." Then she remembered something shocking. "Gah! Sakura! Why didn't you tell me?!?", she shook Sakura by the arm.

"Whoa! What! What didn't I tell you?", she struggled with Ino's grip.

"That your sensei got a girlfriend! Oh my god and she was a real looker too! Not as good-looking as me, but still kinda, pretty."

Sakura's jaw hit the floor. "You are so lying! No one would go out with him; he's just as bad as Naruto and Jiraiya."

"Well, then I guess they are just very good friends that like to walk very close together. He had his hand on her ass and she was leaning against him while they walked. I think she was limping or something and you just know that means they must have just finished having… you know what."

Sakura sat down and thought for a second. "Um… as much as I'm glad we can talk about our days to each other. I'm really not comfortable with the topic of my teacher having… well, that, with anyone."

Ino sat down next to her and asked quietly. "So do you know her?"

Sakura sat there; somewhat irritated that Ino blatantly ignored her concerns about this discussion and where it might head. But after a nice deep breath, a thought came to her. _Mika? No, well, maybe? _ "O.k. wait." She raised her hand up. "What did she look like?"

"She was blonde and had blue eyes. Come to think about it, she looked kind of like Naruto only girly and taller and more curves. And I'd imagine that she is smarter than him because everybody is, but then again, if she's sleeping with your teacher… well, there goes her common sense."

Sakura filtered through the bias and exaggerations of Ino's statements. "Was she wearing a black tank top with khaki shorts and combat boots?"

"Yea, and a tan shirt over her top." Ino noticed the look on her friend's face. "Do you know who she is?"

"I think its Mika, but I can't believe it. No it can't be her. I mean, she just came back to the village. It's so sudden."

"Who's Mika?"

Sakura was lost in contemplation over the possibilities, so she absently answered the nosy, pig-faced girl. "Naruto's aunt, she moved here a little over a week ago. There is no way you saw her; she wouldn't ever… but they were friends before…" Sakura tapped her chin, thinking.

Ino stared at her with her jaw on the floor. "I lost you at Naruto's aunt."

"Oh, it's a long story. Come on, I'll tell you on the way.", she dragged Ino out to the street. "I have to see this to believe it." _Naruto will have a conniption fit, if this is true! Ha, that is worth seeing._

-Out at the Training Field-

"You know, addiction is a serious illness."

"I'm not addicted."

"Really?", Mika didn't look up from her writing while she reached up to her left and grabbed Kakashi's book out of his hands; throwing it ten feet away, not noticing that it never hit the ground. "If you're not addicted, then you will leave it there."

"Fine.", he didn't move, which caused her to stare at him.

"Seriously?", she couldn't believe it. Kiba walked up and handed him back the book. "I should have expected that.", she turned back to your writing.

"You're here awfully early Mika-chan.", Kiba greeted her.

"Yeah, well I was late yesterday. Figured I could make it up today.", she looked up. "Oh, hey, you're not alone. Hi ya'll."

Kiba was with Shino and the other, girl member of their squad. "You're name's… ", Mika pointed at the girl, "… Hinata, right?"

"Yes, Mika-san.", she quietly answered.

"You look like a dreamer, come here.", she patted the ground to her right. She sat down next to her while the other boys kind of wandered around them. "I'm writing this book, see. And I'm about to hit a brick wall in the story. So what do you think someone would tell someone else that they liked, but were too chicken to say anything?"

"I… uh… uh… well…", she started to sway and was about to fall over when Kiba caught her.

Mika looked at the overwhelmed girl with concern. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, she gets like this whenever she thinks about anything to do with Naruto. I've learned to see it coming a mile away.", he sat her up against a tree.

"Aww… she likes him?"

"Yea.", he sounded a bit upset.

"But he doesn't like her?" _Obviously you like her._, Mika thought giddily.

"I don't think Naruto understands the concept.", he sat down with Akamaru.

"Oh god, that is sad." The two of them started to laugh at his expense.

TenTen walked up. "What's so funny?", she curiously asked.

Mika looked up at her, "One word: Naruto.", she broke out laughing again. "It just gets funnier the longer it sets in!"

The scroll toting weapons expert started to giggle just from the sight of the two of them rolling on the ground. "What did he do, now?"

"He doesn't get it.", Kiba managed to get out.

Mika kept laughing until she heard someone shout her name. "Huh?", she sat up.

"MIKA!", Sakura shouted while she ran toward Mika, dragging some girl behind her.

"What's wrong?"

Sakura was standing in front of her, "What's wrong? What's wrong? I'll tell you what's, just plain, wrong! What's wrong is that-", she noticed Kakashi reading his book. "Uh…. Uh….."

Mika looked at her like she was stupid. Nudging Kiba in the side, "Hey, hey, I bet… she doesn't get it either. Ha!" The two of them started laughing again; there was now a new inside joke shared between them, to be used against anyone at anytime.

"Ino's spreading lies about you!", she shouted.

"Who?", Mika stood up. "Spreading rumors is a serious accusation, Sakura.", she feigned an authoritarian tone.

"I am not spreading lies! You jumped to that conclusion all on your own, Pinky! I saw what I saw!", the girl with Sakura jumped on her and they started to fight.

Everyone around was in danger of getting dragged into it. Kiba picked up Hinata and he along with TenTen and Shino stood back behind some trees. Mika dashed over to the other side of Kakashi.

"Does this happen often?", she asked him.

"More than you would believe.", he sounded irritated.

"Shouldn't you stop them?"

He looked at her like she was the crazy one. "Why don't you, Sparky?"

"It's not my student who's about to get her nose-" Sakura took a punch right to the face. "-broken.", Mika winced.

Kakashi glanced over and noted one very important fact. "They are about to tear your notebook to shreds."

Mika looked over his shoulder and gasped at the sight. They were headed right for her bag. "Gah! NO! A hundred and twenty pages! That took me hours to write!", she ran to save her book, but instantly got pulled into the fight. She got some nicks and scratches before Ino ducked behind her and Sakura gave her a sound punch to the cheek, knocking her back into a tree. _Oh No! She did not just do that! Oh my God! She did! _She instantly stopped and came back to her senses.

"Ah! Oh my god! I am so sorry! Ino you pig, look what you made me do!" Sakura was about to start the fight again.

Mika stood between the two of them; grabbing Sakura by the back of her neck and Ino by her ponytail, she dragged them out to the field, out of earshot of the, now gawking, crowd.

**'Snap!' That Rokubi's got some attitude, eh? Reviews for the hungry? Alms for the poor?**


	29. Mika the Cruel

**Holy crap! Lots, seriously lots, of dialogue edits. I had a new idea for the "Mika/Sakura/Ino conversation's focus and I went for it! Read and Enjoy, my readers!**

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Chapter 28: Mika the Cruel

Mika pushed the two girls down into the dirt. "Now I want to know just what the hell is going on here!" They started to bicker again, so Mika sat down in front of them and stared at them till they got creeped out enough from her stare. "I'm going to ask you one more time, what is going on?", Mika pointed to Ino.

"Why do you want to hear Ino before me?", Sakura complained.

"Because you punched me in the face, now shut up.", she rubbed her cheek. "Ino, what's going on?"

Ino straightened herself out and looked Mika in the eye. "This morning, while I was opening my family's flower shop, I looked out the window and saw you and Kakashi walking, very closely together, toward the practice field."

"That is such a lie!" Sakura shouted. "You said they were limping! And that Mika's face was all flushed cause they just finished having you know what back at his apartment!"

Mika's eyes doubled in size. "No I don't know what." A bright blush spread across her face. "What are you talking about?!" _Oh my god, are you kidding me? __Everyone knows what 'you know what' is. Hehehe…_

Ino leaned forward and started yelling at Sakura. "You shut up, you pink rat! How could I have possibly seen the color of her face? I was on the other side of the freakin' street, retard!"

Sakura lunged forward again in an attempt to tear out Ino's tongue. Mika shot out and managed to stop the attack. "Sakura!", she ordered. "Sit down and shut up! You'll get your turn." Mika turned back to Ino, hurriedly gesturing for her to continue with her tale.

The gossip queen cleared her throat and continued. "Sakura came by later and I asked her about who her sensei's girlfriend was and she jumped to the conclusion that it was you." Her tone changed from calm and explanatory to loud and annoying. "Then she went crazy and dragged me out here and started throwing out crazy words."

Mika raised her hand to Sakura in a threatening manner to halt the impending outburst of 'liar, bitch, etc.' "Hmmm…", she thought. _I can't believe that there are teenage girls thinking about me having… that… with… him. __God, talk about a bunch of perverts! I guess it's all ninja and not just the freaky grey-haired ones._ "O.k. then."

"O.k. then, what?" Sakura to Mika.

Mika looked up at the sky momentarily before returning her gaze to the two girls. "I'm officially concerned for the two of you. Seriously, it's not normal for two… what are ya'll? Fourteen, fifteen? year old girls to be thinking about two grown adults having sex. Ya'll should not even be thinking about these kinds of things until you're at least of legal age. Not to mention how it's incredibly creepy that you put together an entire storyline for the two of us."

"So, Mika-chan, are the two of you, you know?", Sakura asked quietly; Ino listened, desperate for an answer as well.

_Are these chicks serious? __I believe they are… you're right. It is disturbing._ "No. God, no we did not have sex." The two teenagers relaxed where they sat. But Mika continued to talk with her eyes fixed on the ground, "I mean, come on. I just returned to the village after nearly two decades away. I'm not some kind of whore or anything. It's not that the thought hasn't crossed my mind." She started to blush as her contemplative rant continued. "Cause it has. It just doesn't seem right. Or at least the timing hasn't been right. Well, it kinda was the other day in the citrus grove, but yea, that's another story altogether." She laughed, looked up and became agonizingly conscious of the wide-eyed stares of the two young girls. They both looked at her like she was some kind of huge pervert. "I… uh… Stop it!", Mika snapped at them. "You're acting like those same ideas weren't floating around in your heads!"

"They weren't." Ino straightened up her back.

"Yea, we were thinking of YOU with Kakashi, not US with him." Sakura almost choked on the words they were so awkward for her. "It's a completely different concept."

It was silent for two uncomfortable minutes. "Look Sakura,", Mika excitedly held up another one of her notebooks. "Chapter Five. Go fetch.", she threw it back toward the tree line where everyone else had gathered. Instantly Sakura took off after the precious notebook. She caught it and curled up next to a tree reading it. "You.", Mika stared at Ino with an evil look.

"W-who, me?", she stuttered.

"I've read your file. You can take over someone's mind with one of your jutsu, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I can. Wait, I'm lost. Weren't we just talking about something else?"

"No, that conversation ended, died, was buried, and will never resurface. Now, listen closely. You owe me a favor for making Sakura punch me. So this is what I want you to do." Mika proceeded to tell her about her evil plan for today.

"Are you serious? You want me to do what now?", she was shocked at Mika's request.

"You heard me. Now come on. I want to get this thing finished already." The two of them headed back to the awaiting group. Gai, Lee, and Naruto had already showed up. But there was one other now too.

"Hello, what's this?", Mika asked looking at the people she knew she hadn't invited to this shindig.

"Good Morning, Mika!", Jiraiya eagerly greeted her. "I heard that this test of yours was something to see, so here I am." He gave a big smile.

"Well, I don't know just how interesting it's going to be today.", she started to make an excuse. "I mean, Naruto is pretty strong. I wouldn't be surprised if he beat all of his opponents today."

"What!?....I mean, of course.", Naruto was shocked to hear her say that.

"I don't expect this to last too long today. So, nobody get too comfortable." Mika turned to Naruto and Kiba, "Go on, get out there. I'll start the timer once ya'll are set."

"Hold on just one second!", Naruto shouted. "What angle are you getting at, Mika-chan?"

She couldn't stop herself. "You wouldn't get it.", her straight face broke into laughter followed by Kiba. "Get out there.", she kicked Naruto in the back, lightly.

The two started fighting; Kiba was on the apprehensive side, probably afraid that the ground would eat him again. Everyone watched the fight intently, waiting for Mika to intervene, but all she did was sit down at the base of the tree that Kakashi was leaning against, reading his book.

He looked down at her, "So?", he asked.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and continued to watch the fight. "So.", she answered without looking up.

"What did Sakura want?"

You thought for a second. _How should I put it? Not that big of a deal, really. __Really?!….Kind of on the awkward side, don't ya' think._ "She had a problem."

"With?"

"You sure are nosy.", Mika carelessly let slip out. She glanced up at him, "With us."

"What did we do?", he carefully asked.

_Supposedly we fucked this morning. __…Please don't ever say that sentence ever again. _"She's just being protective of her favorite author.", she smiled. "She doesn't like us being so… close." With that she stood up and walked over to Gai.

_I just need a little space, so don't read into this too much. I need to not think about it now… otherwise, who knows what could happen._

_Please stop, I can't take your thoughts anymore!_

_Stay out of my personal life. _

_Our personal life, sweetie, 'our'._

Kakashi's eye followed her. _Since when does she care what Sakura thinks? And why does she walk to Gai? Of all people._, he thought.

Mika noticed the jealous look in his eye, so she decided to be nice. She did promise to not tease on purpose anymore. Walking right past Gai she casually said hello and then walked over to stand next to Ino. "You ready?"

"So soon? But I thought we were going to wait."

"We are, I just want you ready at the drop of a hat.", Mika patted her on the head. Looking up, she noticed that Kiba took his fall; Naruto was already jumping up and down. He had no idea that he wasn't actually winning fair and square. "Shino.", she turned to face the gloomy kid. "You ready?"

He nodded his head and started to walk forward but she stopped him. Naruto ran up in a super excited state.

"WOOOO! Did you see that? I'm awesome!"

Mika nodded. "Yes, yes you are. You seem kind of tired. Do you want five minutes to rest or get some water?", she asked in a genuinely sincere tone. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her. "What?", she asked confused.

"What's with the manners?", Kakashi asked, now seemingly confused as to what she was up to.

"I am always polite.", she smiled.

"Since when? You are always rude to me.", Jiraiya scoffed.

"That's because you disgust me.", she snapped; then quickly regained her composure. "Not to say I still don't consider you a good friend. You are like that crazy uncle that everyone has.", she effortlessly feigned a smile. When she really tried, she could fake anything flawlessly. _You are a friend, a gross perverted old man, but a friend._, she thought.

"Hey yeah.", Sakura sat up, done reading the notebook. "You were showing off yesterday and interfering big time."

_Ugh! She reads way to fast. I need her to not be moving around and I didn't bring chapter 6. _Mika slipped her hand into her bag to find out what she did have with her. "I'm not in the mood today.", she smiled while digging through her bag with one hand. _O.k. let's see. What do I have here? My idea book, she would eat that up. Better save it until Shino is about to fall. _"Alright Naruto, if you don't want a break go ahead and head back out there." Mika turned to Shino and nodded for him to follow.

Shino took two minutes to 'trip and fall'. _Pathetic, I guess he doesn't know how to make it look good._ She shouted to Sakura and threw her idea book at her. The teenager let out one of those fan girl squeals and started to devour the contents.

"Well that was disappointing. I thought you said this was going to be interesting, Kakashi.", Jiraiya turned to him.

_What? He invited him?_, Mika thought.

"Sorry," He shrugged his shoulders. "I thought Mika would lose her temper and interfere."

"Why on earth would I lose my temper?", she sweetly interrupted the conversation.

"Because you are losing.", he gave her a sideways look.

She flashed a big smile. "Funny how you think I'm losing."

The two looked at her wearily. "You already lost your temper, didn't you?", Jiraiya asked.

"Yup.", she continued to smile as Shino and Naruto walked up to the group. "It's Sakura's fault really. She shouldn't have punched me."

Of course Sakura didn't hear a word; she was too consumed in the reading Mika had given her. 'Gasp', Sakura was stunned with what she just read. "I can't believe you would consider having Suki make-out with Jon!?!", she looked at Mika with disgusted eyes.

"Make-out? Now that sounds more like my genre of literature.", Jiraiya poked Mika in the shoulder. While Kakashi raised his eyebrow and looked at her with a curious stare.

"That's just shorthand for the two of them to share a passionate, loving kiss under the full moon. Not… 'that' o.k.?", she explained to Sakura and then swiveled around to face Jiraiya. "Don't for one second think, that you can compare the graceful and tasteful exchange of true love in my 'roman romantique' to that cheap and vulgar 'livre perverti' of yours, old man."

"It's so sad that you are so pretty and yet so uptight.", he shook his head back and forth. "You need to loosen up some. You only got a few years left before you're an old maid."

She was a bit taken aback by this comment. _I'm not getting that old… am I?_, she sadly thought to herself. "You're one to talk, old man.", Mika snapped back. "Besides, I'm plenty fun. Just ask any of my old boyfriends.", she flipped her hair back and turned to see Naruto pretending to be Rocky Balboa.

_What?!? Old Boyfriend-s? God, I keep forgetting that she was gone for a whole fifteen years. I guess a lot does happen in fifteen years. She is going to hate all of the questions that I'm going to have for her later._, Kakashi thought to himself.

"O.k.!", Naruto shouted. "Let's go. You and me, Lee!", he kept shouting.

_Oh, whoa, hold on. Gotta stall._, Mika gave Ino the signal. She nodded her head and sat down next to a tree, in clear view of Sakura, who was also sitting. "Hey now,", she grabbed Naruto by the shoulders. "You sure you don't want to take a break.", she started to lead him away from Lee and Gai and over toward Jiraiya and Kakashi. "You were really great out there.", she continued to grip his shoulders as a strangely determined looking Sakura stood up and walked past the group toward Lee. Mika caught her arm and whispered in her ear, "Hey, don't look so upset. Make it look believable."

"But this is going to be really gross.", she whined back.

Mika gritted her teeth and whispered again, "I don't give a damn. Now smile and look interested." The pink-haired girl lightened up her expression and continued to walk over to the oblivious Lee.

"Hey Sakura-chan, where are you going?", Naruto tried to follow her, but Mika stopped him. "Let her alone, silly.", she pulled him back.

"What did you do to her?", Kakashi started to walk after her also.

She stopped him too and said, "Just wait and watch the show.", she started to giggle. Everyone watched as Sakura tapped Lee on the shoulder. He turned to face her and was about to speak when she planted a deep kiss right on his lips. Everyone's jaws hit the floor, even Mika's. Poor Lee swayed back and forth and then passed out. While Sakura stood there awkwardly. "Mika, I'm done now, right?", she whined.

"Oh yea, you're done.", she laughed as tears flowed from her eyes. "I couldn't have planned that any better!" Sakura collapsed to the ground as Ino stood up, gagging.

"We're even! You hear me you cruel, disgusting, woman! We're even!", Ino shouted at Mika and her tears of laughter.

The 'oh-my-god's' started and Naruto turned on his aunt, asking in a shocked voice, "But why?..."

"Simple.", she wiped the tears from her face. "You can't exactly fight Lee if he's unconscious. Wouldn't be fair."

"Ugh. What happened?", Sakura sat up.

"You totally just kissed Lee!", Kiba laughed. TenTen and Ino were laughing too, while Shino stifled his amusement.

Sakura glanced up at Ino, who showed a completely guilty face through the laughter. "I'm going to kill you Ino-PIG!", she screamed and ran at her. They started fighting again while Mika picked up the notebooks that Sakura had been reading.

"That was…", Kakashi started.

"Mean, hurtful, cruel?", she offered walking past him.

"Completely, but really smart.", he scratched his head. _I really didn't see Sakura as being that kind of a liability in this._

"Oh,", she cheerfully smiled. "Thank you." Mika walked over to Gai. "Um, sorry about Lee. I thought it would be the most humane way to knock him unconscious."

"I guess that's one way to do it.", he answered looking down at his still twitching student.

"Maybe you should take him home and then you and I can practice, say in one hour?" Gai nodded his head as he threw Lee over his shoulder and took him away.

"I guess I'll see ya'll here tomorrow.", a majority of the group left while Mika walked up to Naruto and patted him on the head. "Sorry about that, but I had a timetable set, so…"

"So it was decided that you would make Sakura kiss…bushy-brow.", he turned away from her and pouted.

_What? Naruto likes Sakura. Awwww…I still would have done what I did, but gosh. Now I feel bad._ "Hey.", she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Don't be upset with me. It was a spur of the moment plan; I didn't realize it would upset you so much. I promise I'll make it up to you."

"Like what?" He got a sneaky look in his eye.

She noticed the look and raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to make her kiss you." His shoulders dropped. "How about I take you to dinner, tonight; anywhere you want?"

"Yea, o.k. I guess that sounds good."

"Come on, Sparky." Kakashi grabbed Mika's hand and started to pull her away. "I only get one more hour before Gai steals you away from me."

"What did I tell you about dragging me around?", she quickened her pace to walk next to him, then shouted over her shoulder to her nephew, "Bye!"

-Still with Naruto-

"Why does Kakashi-sensei always drag Mika away from me?"

"Oh, come on Naruto.", Jiraiya put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "It's obvious."

"What's obvious?"

A stress mark appeared on the sannin's forehead. "I've been training you for two whole years and you can't tell that he likes her." He smacked himself in the head. "Have you learned nothing from me?" Naruto gave him a look of complete disbelief and disgust. "It's kind of cute actually. They were really good friends when they were little. And now, well, just look at her; can you blame him?"

"Yes. Yes I can!" Naruto started to follow the two grown adults only to be stopped by the old man. "Let me go!"

"Just think about this for a minute; judging by the fact that she hasn't bashed his head in must mean she likes him too. Do you think that she would appreciate you budding in?"

"……no, I guess not.", Naruto mumbled under his breath.

"And what would she do if you pissed her off?"

The thought of what cruel punishment, Mika could come up with, made Naruto shiver. "O.k. I'll leave her alone. But I'm going to have a serious talk with one of them later!" The two walked back toward the village in a different direction.

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**YAYS! This is like my new favorite chapter now! What about ya'll? What did ya' like, not like?**


	30. A Weak Conscience

**Dude… I know I promised to not change the story… It's not really a change so much as it's a clarification. You'll see… Also, my apologies to those that recently reviewed. I was gonna message thanks in all, but for whatever reason it wasn't working? IDK, hope they fix it. But if the last chapter shocked you, hold onto your seat cause there are loads more shocking things to come!**

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Chapter 29: A Weak Conscience

While walking, Kakashi had taken to swinging Mika's left arm in sync with their walking. _Ughh, why does he have to do the most annoying things? _

_Because he is stupid._

_If he's not careful he might actually hurt me._ No sooner did she think of the possibility of injury, did her shoulder make a quick snapping sound. He instantly dropped her hand, stopped walking and stared at the offending shoulder.

"Oh, don't worry. It doesn't hurt that badly.", Mika reassured him. "But if you don't mind, could you maybe pop it back into place?"

"Uh…", he shook his head side to side. "Yeah, hold still." He reset the joint with a quick push. "So does that happen often?"

She was griping her shoulder with her right hand. "Not unless I use my shoulder a lot, which I have been doing with my training sessions with Gai and Lee. It actually happened yesterday, come to think about it." Kakashi was staring at her like a kid during story time. "It's done that since I hurt it pretty bad a long time ago."

"Uh huh. What did you do exactly?", he asked grabbing Mika's hand and continuing the walk without swinging her arm.

"I uh…" _'sigh' No, I'm not going to lie. I'm just not going to name names.__ 'cough cough Orochimaru cough cough`_"Well, I didn't do it. Someone else did. I got in a fight and I got stabbed. The sword cut up the cartilage, so now it doesn't do such a good job of holding my arm in place."

"A fight? Who with?"

"This guy, no big deal. I kicked his ass; he went running from the fight. _Change the subject, Mika!_ It was nothing compared to the catfight with Sakura and Ino today."

Kakashi sighed internally to himself. _She is good about hiding just enough information. Always so mysterious._ "Yeah, why does Sakura not like me around you again? What was all that about?"

Mika started to laugh a bit. "That was just two teenage girls jumping to conclusions about things that don't concern them. Ino saw us walking to the training field this morning and she told a slightly different story and then Sakura, who totally freaked out for some reason, added more to the tale and then you saw the rest." Mika leaned her head against his shoulder and gave him a big smile, but she noticed that he just stared back at her with that blank stare of his. "What's that look for?", she pushed back from him.

"What did you tell them?", he asked in a very serious tone.

"Nothing. Why would I bother explaining anything to do with my personal life to a couple of teenage girls?"

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. _Now's my chance for payback, hehehe. We'll see how she likes being toyed with. _"So what, am I not good enough to be talked about like one of your 'several boyfriends'?"

Mika's face contorted to something reminiscent of shock and confusion. _What the fuck! Where the hell did that come from? How am I supposed to answer a question like that?_ Mika stood up straight and looked him in the eye. "No, that's not it." _What do I say? What do I say? Seriously, what are you supposed to say in a situation like this? It's not like I don't consider him a boyfriend. _"Um….", her gaze drifted off to the distance. These questions kept running through her head until Kakashi started snapping his fingers in front of her face.

"Hello? Sparky? You there?"

Mika grabbed his hand, swiveled around to look him in the face and blurted the first several things that came to mind. It probably wasn't a good idea. "I've only had one boyfriend before and he was completely different from you. What I mean to say is that he made me feel one way and you make me feel another. It's complicated, I know. See, I knew for sure that he was a boyfriend and I felt almost privileged to be around him, but I don't feel like I'm inferior when I'm around you and I guess I didn't want it to get too weird if I started talking about things that haven't even happened between us to two teenage girls. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore so I'm just going to shut up now." _Hahaha! Oh wow, you are sad when you are in love.__ I'm not in love…. I never said that, so I'm not._

_Wow, that was not what I would have expected. Again, she surprises me._ Kakashi was just staring at her.

"Oh come on! Say something! Ughh!", Mika dropped his hand and took a step back. At the same time he took a step forward and grabbed her shoulders.

"You have a really inverted view of what a boyfriend is, but that's o.k. I can re-educate you on the topic." He slid his mask down and kissed her sweetly on the lips. "See? Lesson one; you have to feel comfortable with the person, to go out with them."

"And uh…", she cleared her throat and nodded her head to the side before looking at him again. "Only because I am completely misinformed in this subject, that means that you trust me to see your true self?"

He nodded. "More or less."

"O.k. good." Mika quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a deep passionate kiss. It caught him off guard and he took a step back, before holding her around her waist. She leaned back, "Just to be perfectly clear here, that means that I love that I can be myself around you too." _Ugh, gag me with a spoon!_

"Thank you for the clarity.", he laughed at her and then let her go. The two of them continued walking when he kept looking over at her.

"What? That look is really annoying me!", she exclaimed.

"Well… I was just wondering who that former boyfriend was, that's all."

Mika took a second, or two, to think about him. "Heh, well, he was something different alright."

"Heh, well, uh… what was he?", Kakashi mocked her.

His mocking struck a chord. "It's no big deal really. He had long black hair and gorgeous eyes."

_Oh god yes! Those gorgeous red eyes!_

Mika glanced wistfully into the forest where the two of them had wandered. "He was a man of few words, but when he would speak to me it was like the world disappeared." She slowly started to drift back into her memories a blush and a small smile crossing her face. _Dear lord, the way he would hold me… _

_Us! The way he would hold us! And how we'd get lost in those two red eyes…_

_Kakashi has an eye like that, you know. _

_Who would want one eye, when you can have two?_

…_Why not have three?_

…_Damn girl, you're kinky!_

_Don't even, I know you must have thought about it too. Besides, it'd never happen._

Mika used her peripheral vision to see if her thoughts had been read. He only had a blank look on his face. "What? Nothing?", she prodded.

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, "Eh, it's not like he could even raise a finger to me. I'd easily kick his ass."

"That may be true, but I could easily kick yours." Mika's playful and happy mood had returned. _Yea, and I could kill him easily too.__ No killing! God… what is wrong with you?_

Kakashi laughed at her a bit, "Right. You, a long since 'retired' chunnin, could totally beat me, an elite Jounin and former ANBU captain." _She could totally rip me to shreds, couldn't she?_, he thought to himself, considering that fact that she was a Jinchuuriki.

She laughed too. _Right, only you got one part wrong. I'm a former member of Akatsuki and a student of the terrible --__the great__-- Uchiha Madara. Not just some 'retired chunnin'._ "Yeah, that's right I could." Mika stopped walking, noticing that they were in a small clearing. "Why don't we settle this here and now?"

He raised his eyebrow at her, "Are you suggesting a fight?"

"Maybe….", she jumped back from him and took a fighting stance.

He stood there, in a nonchalant manner, and pulled out a kunai; twirling it around his finger while he spoke, "You don't have any weapons. How could it be fair?"

An evil smirk played across Mika's lips. _No Mika! Don't do it! You can't; if you do, he will know even more for sure that you are lying to him about a lot of things! Stop, please!_, her conscience begged her but all she heard was a voice as annoying and quiet as a mouse. There was only one voice that sounded as beautiful as a church choir, ringing through her ears. _Go on! Do it! Let's have some fun!_ There was no stopping her.

Mika stretched out her hand, palm down toward the ground. "A good ninja would never make the assumption that their opponent is unarmed." Out of the ground shot up three clear, diamond kunai. She caught them between her fingers and moved her arm, ready to throw them.

"Ah, so some truth comes out. You have improved with that diamond technique of yours.", Kakashi jumped backward and threw his one kunai at her.

She deflected it easily with one of her clear ones, the other two she threw behind him, as a warning. They looked like flashes of lightning as they reflected the sunlight. "Not just improved… perfected.", she shouted. _Stop it Mika! Stop!_, the sound of her conscience was getting a bit stronger. "But since I don't want to actually hurt you, I don't think I will use it anymore." _Damn and that would have made killing him so much easier. Oh well, try kicking him in the head or something._ Mika charged him, throwing a kick high and toward his left.

He blocked it with his left arm and stared her down in the eyes. His headband was up and you could see his Sharingan.

_Oh god that red eye!_, she blushed for a split second.

"How did you get this good?" He flipped her leg over her head, but she caught herself and did a back flip, landing on her feet a few yards away.

"Same way everyone else does.", she replied. _Calm down! If you get over excited you might really hurt him! Don't use your summon! Don't let the Rokubi out! You have to lose this fight!_, Mika's conscience was really getting to her now.

_God dammit I hate losing!_, she cursed herself for not being able to reconcile the two sides of her psyche.

_But…ughhh!_

"I trained." Mika made some hand signs that he mimicked quickly and effortlessly. The ground beneath the two of them started to shake, the jutsu created two large rock monsters that instantly clashed with each other, cancelling themselves out.

"That was a pretty advanced technique. Where did you learn it?", he started interrogating her again.

Before he had even finished asking that question, Mika was standing next to him. "If I were you, I would stop asking so many questions and start paying more attention to the fight.", she punched him hard in the chest. It made contact, but as he fell back he pulled her with him; throwing her up into a tree.

"Bad move, sweetie.", Mika spoke in a sadistic matter. _NO! What did I say?!? Do Not Let Out That Damned Rokubi!_ It was too late. "You should know what I do when I'm up high.", she shot a very high voltage/low amperage bolt of electricity down at him. She watched as it struck, instantly regretting what she had done the second she had done it. Thank God what it had hit was not Kakashi. What it did hit, poofed into a wooden log that completely shattered upon impact of the attack. _Whoa, o.k. that was wrong. What is wrong with me? Alright, time to end this fight before I lose control again. _

_But do we really have to lose?_

_..... YES!_, Mika's conscience yelled at the Rokubi inside of her.

_Grrrr…_

"Yup, I know what you do. Why do you think I'm up here with you, instead of down there, split into tiny little splinters?" Kakashi was standing behind her on the tree branch. _Was she really trying to kill me?_, he thought to himself. _I've got to end this quickly._

Mika jumped down from the tree and took her dear sweet time turning to see him following her. She paused for a half a second, knowing full well that he would probably trip her. He did and she fell flat on her ass, looking up at the clouds. The cunning blonde started to fake being out of breath and tired. He was sitting on top of her hips, pinning her to the ground with a kunai at her throat. "I give up.", she panted. "Is that really necessary?", she nodded her chin toward the weapon.

"You tell me. Was completely obliterating that clone necessary?", he looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"No, but it was fun.", she cocked her head to the side. "Do you really think I would have done that if it was really you?" _I didn't know, but for the sake of argument._ He just looked at her with that lazy eye look and pulled the weapon away from her throat, but not getting off of her. "Hey, how did this whole thing get started anyways?", she laughed confusedly.

He just sighed; shaking his head from side to side and pinching the bridge of his nose. _You are really some piece of work, you know that?_, he thought to himself.

"Oh yeah, you were talking smack about my ex. What about yours? Hmmmm…", she looked up at him expectantly.

"None to speak of.", he pulled his mask down and leaned forward, his hands on her shoulders. _Or at least I wouldn't call 'her' that…_

_Bullshit! _"That's a lie. You kiss to good for that to be true.", Mika instantly blushed from the realization of what she just said without thinking. _I need to get a lock for my tongue.__ If you ask me you need another lock in another place too._

"I didn't learn from girls." He leaned in and kissed her deeply. He stopped for them to take a breath and looked at her with her expression completely glossed over in joy.

"I don't get it.", she softly spoke. "Then…how?" He smiled at her and chuckled a little bit. She smiled, "What's so funny?" He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out one of Jiraiya's books. Mika blinked a couple of times before it registered and her smile faded. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"Nope.", he shook his head and put the book away again. "And don't curse; it's not good for you."

She started to inspect her hands; satisfied, she then looked up at him. _Not going to try to get out now, eh? __You're building up your tolerance again….'grumble grumble'._ "You may get away with telling other ninja what to do, but I'm a private citizen. I'm a lady.", she pointed her chin away from him. "And you don't have the right to tell me what to do."

The grey-haired young man raised one of his hands to bring her chin back to him. "Somehow I don't think that a lady would be lying in the dirt with a man sitting on top of her."

Mika closed her eyes as she felt the blush on her cheeks rise, for the 'up-teenth' time that afternoon. "Touché.", she muttered. Certain thoughts started to run though her mind.

_I already told you 'no'. I will not have anything like that to do with him._

_Then just cover your eyes and ears and don't pay attention. _

The same certain thoughts were swirling in his mind. _Stop yourself man. Don't start something. It's too soon. Not here of all places. Not now of all times._"Come on.", he stood up, fixed his mask and headband and lowered his hand to the dirt covered blonde.

Mika took it and stood up. There was a mildly disappointed look on her face until her punctual nature surfaced. "Gosh, what time is it?", she walked over to where she had inadvertently dropped her bag.

"It's been about an hour.", he followed her.

"I've got to go see Gai.", she turned to run off but stopped short. Quickly, she swiveled around and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'll see you later,….'boyfriend'.", she kissed him in an overly-dramatic way through his mask.

He held her tightly, as if he were trying to absorb every inch of her; one hand wrapped around her lower back, the other supporting the back of her neck. "I'll see you later, Sparky.", he finally let go.

"Bye.", Mika turned and walked away, knowing full well that he was looking her over.

_This isn't right. When he touches you, it's like he is touching me._

_For how much you complain, I'm starting to think that you like him as much as I do. _

_Blasphemy!_

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**Yea, that's right! Mika's ex is the one, the only, the Itachi! Yay! More intrigue! Hope ya'll paid attention. It's like a soap opera and small details can change everything! Reviews for me?**


	31. Ace in the Hole

Chapter 30: Ace in the Hole

Sakura, after giving Ino a sound ass-kicking for embarrassing her, had headed off to find where Gai had taken Lee. She desperately needed to clarify the situation to him, especially since she had yet to convince him to take a dive, for Naruto's sake.

_Gosh, I don't want to hurt his feelings…. This is going to be difficult, isn't it?_, she thought to herself as she arrived at the dojo that the two green beasts of Konoha trained at all the time. "Stupid Mika-chan, getting me into this situation. Now more than ever, I'm gonna make sure that she loses this bet.", she grumbled to herself as she walked up to the door. 'KNOCK, KNOCK' There was no answer. She sighed from frustration. "Hello? Anyone?", she walked inside and looked around.

"Sakura-chan! What are you doing here?" Gai walked out of a back room to greet her.

"Oh hello, Gai-sensei. I was looking for Lee. As you can imagine, I need to talk to him.", she fidgeted while she spoke that last sentence.

"Ah, yes. Well….he's in the back. Go ahead and see him. He just woke up actually; you pulled quite the number on him.", he chuckled and gave her a thumbs-up.

"…it wasn't me...", she muttered as she walked past him to where Lee was resting. "Hi there, Lee.", she awkwardly blurted as she stood in the doorway to the room.

"Oh, hello Sakura-chan.", he gave a smile; though she could tell it was half-hearted.

"So, umm…are you feeling better?" She walked forward and sat down next to him.

"Yes, much better. Thank you." There was an awkward silence. Then they both started to talk at the same time. "Sakura…" "Lee…"

"Oh, you go first Sakura-chan.", Lee, ever the gentleman, offered.

"Ok, uhh… well,", she slowly started. "I don't want to hurt your feelings or anything here, because you are such a wonderful friend to me in all….but you do understand that it wasn't ME who kissed you, right?"

"Of course, Gai-sensei explained everything to me.", he gave a wide toothed smile.

The poor pink-haired girl was shocked. "WHAT?!? Why didn't you just start with that?", she stood up, towering over him. She was angered by her own embarrassment.

"Because you wanted to talk?", he attempted to reason with her.

Sakura was red in the face, completely flushed with how embarrassed she was at the moment, when she remembered how badly she wanted Mika to pay. We women are vengeful creatures, are we not? "Oh!", she sat back down and looked Lee in the eyes. "Lee I need you to do me a favor."

"Of course Sakura-chan, anything. I know you may not share the affections that I have for you, but I will continue to do my best to prove to you how much you mean to me. So whatever it is, I will do it for you." He followed that with his signature grin and thumbs-up.

"Aa-huh, ok then.", she had a mild eye twitch after his little mini rant/speech about his 'affections' for her. "Well then, this is what's going on." She explained the bet, Mika's supposed abilities, and Kakashi's plan to stop her from winning. "So all I really need you to do is take a dive.", she smiled sweetly at him.

"…."

"Lee?"

"…. I don't know why you didn't ask for my help sooner!", he exclaimed. "Such an action would greatly help **not only **my friend Naruto, his aunt whether she knows it or not, and the village, but it would be an honor to assist you, my beautiful Sakura in achieving your goal."

"Great, so it's settled?", she stood up.

"Yes, tomorrow", he stood up, "Naruto will win his match with me. –But Sakura-chan?"

"Yes?"

"No telling Gai-sensei alright? He has been working extra hard to re-train Mika-san. I'm actually afraid he might take it a little hard **if** she loses."

"Oh, don't worry I won't tell a soul. But I doubt that he would be overly upset. **When** she loses, she will resume her duties to the village and that means she will have to stick around."

The two of them started to walk back to the front of the dojo. "How can you be so sure that Mika-san will lose?", Lee asked thoughtfully.

"Trust me. Kakashi-sensei has a plan. He always does, and they always work."

-Jumping to where Gai was while the kids are talking in the back-

After sending Sakura to the back to have a chat with Lee, Gai went to pack up a few items for his training session with Mika. He was mumbling the list of weapons that he was supposed to bring with him. "Hmmm…ok shuriken, kunai, and needles for throwing practice, check.", he placed them in the bag. "Random scrolls for whatever it is that we ninja need scrolls for, check. And last but not least a pair of nunchucks for me and a short katana for Mika, check."

Pleased with himself for doing such a marvelous job of packing objects, he turned to go meet Mika for her re-training, when he felt something was off. _Hmm…who is this? Who is here besides myself?_, he could sense the presence of another ninja, a familiar ninja…. "Ha! There you are!" He ran and sent a roundhouse kick through some curtains, but there was nothing there to receive the impact. "Oh, huh, well then, I must have been mistaken."

"Yo.", Kakashi spoke from the other side of the medium sized room.

Nearly jumping out of his skin from shock, Gai swiveled around and pointed at his eternal rival. "Kakashi! How did you get in here?!?"

Kakashi tilted his head slightly and smiled with his one eye, "Front door."

"Gah! You are so irritating with your 'I'm so cool, I used the Front door routine'." 'sigh' "Never mind ….was there something you needed?", he asked that last part in a much more accommodating tone.

"Uh….", his mind was kind of distracted by what had just happened with Mika. "…oh, yea. Have you seen Sakura?"

"Yes, she's in the back talking to Lee." Gai proceeded to gather his things and head out. "Well, I'm off to see the lovely Mika.", he proudly strutted out of the room.

Kakashi just laughed to himself. _Hn, if I had a reason to be, I might actually be jealous of that fact._ He stood up and walked into the main training room to wait for Sakura to finish her conversation with Lee.

A minute later and he heard Sakura singing his praises with something like, 'Kakashi-sensei is a genius whose plans always work. Blah blah blah….' _That girl has some kind of issue with me, doesn't she?_, he thought to himself. The two walked into the room and saw him.

"Look, there he is now. Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura shouted to him. He just waved a hand in reply as the two jogged over. Yes, jogged. Running is too eager and walking is too relaxed.

"So? Have you talked to Lee yet, Sakura?", he asked.

"Oh, yes. And he promised to go along with our plan of completely destroying any chance of Mika winning her bet with Tsunade-sama.", she had a strangely evil look on her face; obviously the incident with Lee had tipped her over the edge when it came to beating Mika. Lee just nodded his head.

"Well, I like the enthusiasm about that, but what I meant was; have you talked about that whole fiasco that happened earlier?" Her head fell while both guys present, silently chuckled. "Alright then, if everything here is good, then I'll be on my way then." Kakashi turned to walk away.

"Hey wait! Kakashi-sensei!", Sakura scrambled after him.

"Hn."

"I understand how we got everyone of Naruto's opponents to give up, but Mika won't do that. How are we going to win the bet if she won't take a dive?"

"We'll have to beat her fair and square."

Both Sakura and Lee stared at him with their jaws dropped and eyes wide. "Is that possible?", Sakura took a second to think.

"I've seen her practice, Kakashi-sempai. And I seriously doubt that Naruto would be able to defeat her; let alone evade her attacks.", Lee spoke with a foreboding tone.

"Hmmm, is that so?" Kakashi replied with his 'cool guy' voice. "Well…. I've seen her fight too and I know how to beat her. So, don't worry about it. I'll take care of it.", he again turned to walk away.

"How?" The teenagers prodded for more information.

"The same way she got me back when we were kids.", he called over his shoulder as he walked out of the building. _Only this time, she'll be the one to wake up after being electrocuted._, he thought to himself as he left to find one last person.

-Naruto's P.O.V.-

After getting ditched by Jiraiya, who instead decided to go do some research, Naruto walked around town thinking about what he was going to tell his aunt when he got a chance to talk to her. _Ughh…this just isn't any fair. Having to beat my aunt in order to convince her to train me? And on top of that problem, there's this whole thing with Kakashi-sensei. What the heck is that about, huh? I'm family, and family should always come first….right? Not that I would know or anything. _It was getting toward the evening hours and he had wandered to the bridge that crosses the big river on the edge of the village. He stopped there and sat down on the railing; watching the fish swimming under his feet.

"There you are, Naruto." Kakashi walked up next to him.

"Hm?", he looked back at him. "Konbanwa, Kakashi-sensei." It took him a second to actually recognize who he was talking to. "Oh hey!", he swiveled around on the railing to face his teacher.

"What is it?"

"You! I got a few things you and I got to get straight here, ok?" He was pointing at him with an accusing finger.

Kakashi was unfazed by the killing intent in Naruto's face. "I needed to talk to you too. Do you want to go first or should I?"

Naruto raised one eyebrow at him. "Uhh…hmmm. You go first.", he snapped.

"Alright, you want to win against your aunt right?"

"Well of course I do!", he jumped off of the railing with a shout.

"Good, cause I can help you with that."

"I thought you told me, that you weren't going to teach me anything new? Not that I'm complaining or anything. Because I'm not!"

"I'm not going to teach you anything. Here.", he reached into his vest and pulled out a small object wrapped in some cloth. "Use this at the end of your fight with her."

Naruto took the object and started to unravel it.

"Hey, no.", Kakashi stopped him. "Not here, someone might see. But listen to me ok?"

Naruto held the object close to his chest. "Yeah, alright. I'm listening."

"Use this at the end of the fight. After she's used a lot of her electric attacks; you'll have to dodge and stay one step ahead of her for the entire time."

"How do you know that this is the only way I could beat her? I'm sure that I could fight her off on my own.", Naruto puffed out his chest like he was all tough.

Kakashi sighed and shook his head. "Because I know your aunt better than anyone else here and that right there,", he pointed to the object, "is the only way you can possibly win. It is very important that you win, Naruto. Do you hear me?"

Naruto looked at his teacher and then to the small cloth wrapped bundle in his hands. "…yea I hear ya'."

"Good. So what are you going to do when you fight her?"

"I'm going to stay one step ahead of her movements, avoid her attacks, and at the end of the fight I'm going to use, whatever this is.", he said shaking the package in his hands. "You said something about her using her electricity thing?"

"Yeah, so?"

"She's smart, how do you know that she doesn't know already and now she going to be sure to avoid using them?" For some strange reason, Naruto actually conceived this relevant question. He's not always retarded.

The copy-nin raised his hands in front of him and reassured the paranoid boy. "Believe me, she won't be able to resist the opportunity to electrocute you. Heck, I don't think anyone would."

Naruto just nodded his head and put his new 'ace in the hole' in his pocket.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk about?", Kakashi asked him.

"…huh? Oh yeah, that." Naruto sprang up with a new stern look on his face and took a deep breath. "What's with you always taking Mika-chan away from me? You're always dragging her off in one direction or another. I've hardly had two seconds with her!"

"…"

"Well?!?"

_Hehe, oh wow. I do not want to talk to him about this. This is something Mika should handle on her own anyway. _"Wow, look at the time! I have got to get going. Don't forget what I told you about, alright? Bye." He poofed away.

"What! No! Hey!" Kakashi was already gone. "Damn it. Stupid Kakashi-sensei. I'll just have to give Mika a piece of my mind over dinner. She'll explain this to me and make sure he gets his!"

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**Hehe, almost zero edits here cause Mika doesn't have any lines. Lol, next chapter coming right up! **

**P.S. Reviews? Ya know I love 'em! **


	32. Pretty in Pink

**More thx for reviews that I didn't respond to… I lost count (not that there's a whole lot or anything like that, I'm not that self-centered!) cause I got busy and so yea… I'm making excuses now. Lol! Readz dis chappie! Some emo-ness but hey, aren't we all? XD**

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Chapter 31: Pretty in Pink

Mika was sitting on the ground leaning back on her elbows in an open field watching the sun inch its way toward the horizon with her legs stretched out in front of her. Gai was sitting next to her the same way only his legs were crossed. The landscape that surrounded the two of them looked like a warzone. Strewn about everywhere were a plethora of sharp objects, torn apart scrolls, the remains of what used to be trees and random, mysterious smoldering craters ranging in size from apples to Hummers. Mika took a nice deep breath and a quick survey of the destruction.

In an odd way it was comforting for her to see a wasteland so completely enveloping them. Like a reflection of her inner self; completely decimated and yet still functioning. That and the fact that during her late teenage to early adult years, she went through a, how shall we say…'dark' phase, that she never fully resurfaced from.

She was still looking around when she noticed the shredded scrolls. "Hey Gai?"

"Yes Mika-chan?", he replied softly; probably thinking this was some sort of a romantic setting. Which in Mika's case, probably would have been… go figure.

"What did we use those scrolls for anyways? I don't remember."

He looked at where she was pointing and chuckled to himself. "…Hn, I don't remember either." She gave a tired snort of laughter in response, before the setting sun reclaimed her attention. The sun setting over Konoha; with all of the chaos around her, she couldn't help but be reminded of the horror that was the Kyuubi. She couldn't help but be reminded of the last time she saw everyone she loved, just disappear from her life.

"Hey Gai?"

"Yes Mika-chan?"

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"No, of course not."

"It might be kind of a…'touchy' subject." Mika had a sad tone in her voice. He picked up on it.

"…Go ahead, ask me."

"What were things like here, after I was gone?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, how about you start with how the village rebuilt itself and then you can lead into how everyone we know coped with it." She'd be damned if she outright said that she wanted to know if anyone had cared that she was 'dead'.

Gai took a minute to formulate his thoughts. "…As I'm sure you can imagine, the loss of the Fourth was hard on everyone. Most of us managed to overcome our grief, for the sake of the village. It needed to be rebuilt and we had to maintain order and such. Some took it harder than others, though."

"Oh really.", She sounded disinterested with her eyes still fixed on the horizon, but on the inside she was squirming for more details. She had to know if she was missed; she had to know if she mattered.

"Yea, for example… Jiraiya left again. I guess he needed some time alone. Your brother was one of his students. I suppose that's why he stayed away for so long." It was quiet for a moment and it seemed like Gai had finished speaking.

"So…did anything….change?"

"Well, not really. Every building was repaired the same as it was before. Oh, wait…"

"Yes?", Mika twitched with a bit of anxiety.

He rubbed his eye hesitantly. "I know it sounds kind of rough, but we did change the Memorial Stone.... We added names to it."

"Oh….well of course; so many died on that day."

"You know, your name is on it."

That sentence pulled her attention away from the evening sky. "Really?"

"Yea, I mean, you were presumed dead, even though no one ever found your body. You should probably get that fixed."

_Why bother? I'm probably going to be dead within the year anyway. __I like 'death talk', but don't talk like that. We're not going to die young.__ Not now…please…__..yea ok, I hear ya'._ "So, that's it huh? Everyone missed my Ani, the village got rebuilt with a few new features, and everyone got over it.", Mika stood up with an unintentional huff.

"I'm sorry Mika-chan. That's not what you wanted to hear, was it?"

Without looking over her shoulder she snapped. "You told me the truth didn't you?"

"Yes, but---"

"Well then, that is exactly what I asked for.", she had interrupted him, but her voice resumed its calm and mellow tone. "I'm sorry, I'm not mad…it's just…", she glanced away from him. _All those years, Madara-sama spoon-fed me that crap that everyone was rejoicing when they thought I was dead. And I wanted to believe it so I could blame them for what I was becoming; for what he was turning me into. It broke my heart, it really did. __Aww come on kid! Buck up! Face the facts here, everyone mourned and got over it. Even Gai let the memory of you fade away…..It's just human nature. You know that.__ I never forgot anyone.__ I know….mind like a steel trap. But be honest, you held on to the bad memories more than the good ones.__ 'sigh'_

Gai was thinking of something that might cheer her up some, when it clicked in his head. "Mika-chan", he gently placed his hand on her shoulder to turn her back around.

"Hn.", she looked up at him with a hollow look.

"I can't say for sure what this means, but there was one other thing that changed after you 'died'." The dejected blonde didn't respond, she just stared at him; patiently waiting for a response. "There is one person who always visits the Memorial Stone like clockwork and he used to only take two flowers for his fallen comrades, but after the attack all those years ago… well, now he takes four flowers every time he goes to visit the shrine."

"…you're talking about Kakashi aren't you?" Mika remembered how she would sometimes follow him there and wait patiently while he placed the two flowers for Obito and Rin. When they died, one after the other, he took it pretty hard.

Gai nodded his head. "I always assumed the extra two were for you and Minato-sama."

The idea sunk in as Mika recalled him smiling at her after her rampage through Kumo. You would think that a ninja as experienced as he would be a bit more cautious around someone so dangerous, especially after they just finished causing a massive amount of collateral damage. The idea sunk in more with the recollection of how clingy and possessive he had been acting around her. He was always next to her or dragging her off to some random locale. A small smile broke out across Mika's face when she thought of how much she loved just being around that man. Kakashi was just a resurrected to her as she was to him.

"See, you're happier already!" Gai flashed a big smile at Mika that just made her giggle and lunge out in a hug.

"Thank you Gai. Thank you so much. You were always nice to me, even when we were little."

He sucked it up and replied, "…That's what friends are for.", officially bidding farewell to any idea of a more intimate relationship. He could tell that her heart was already with someone else.

She let go and smiled up at him, before glancing at the dusk. "Well, it's time to go. I've got to hurry and get home.", she reached down and picked up her bag. "Naruto is expecting dinner with me tonight."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I feel kinda bad for not spending a lot of time with him since I've been back. Alright then, I'll see ya' around, yeah?"

"Of course. Were we going to practice again tomorrow?"

"Ummm….nah. I think I'm good, don't you?"

"You're better than good. If it were up to me, I'd recommend you to ANBU."

"Well, thank god it ain't up to you.", Mika laughed. _And I was holding back._

_...__me too._

_What are you talking about? I was the only one fighting here. _

_I'm a part of you, ergo I was fighting too. And I was holding back._

……_whatever. _"I'll see you later, Gai. Bye."

_Hahaha, Gai-Bye! That rhymes!_

_Are you mentally disabled? _

_Only if you are. hehehe__._

Mika took off at a sprint to make it home in time to shower and clean up before a late dinner with her nephew.

"Bye, Mika-chan!", Gai shouted after her.

It was past sunset, but the horizon was still faintly glowing when she made it home. She quickly showered off the dirt from this afternoon's training, dried her hair and got dressed. For some reason she was possessed by the side of her that still liked 'girly' things, and she put on a white knee length silk dress with a bright pink sash around the middle with a pair of pink flats to match and a pink headband in her hair.

_How strange that I don't remember owning these things. _

_Don't look at me, I would never buy this outfit!_

_If you were out buying outfits, then I'd have bigger problems to worry about. _

_True, true._

Mika grabbed her bag, which didn't match her outfit at all but had all her money in it, and ran out the door to find her nephew.

_I need to find out his phone number. I have no idea where he could be. _

_I can find him!_

_How? _

_Let just a little bit of me out and I'll sense the Kyuubi for you._

_Oh yea, that's right. You've got that neat trick of your's don't you?_

Mika had no reason to fear letting a little bit out, so she ducked into an alleyway and let the Rokubi's chakra flood her right arm. The physical changes were instantly obvious.

……_head west about….oh I'd say maybe half a mile._

_Cool thanks. _

_Don't thank me, feed me. Now go!_

_Ok, ok, chill out. I'm going._

She headed west and low and behold, exactly half a mile away from where she had been, was Naruto sitting on the steps to his apartment building. She mentally smacked herself in the head.

_Of course, the first place I should have looked….god I can be so dense at times._

_I'm not gonna comment on that one. It's to obvious._

"Hola, oi-kun!", Mika waved at him.

His head swiveled in her direction, but the look on his face reminded her of an angry hedgehog she once saw. She twitched at the horrid memory. "Hello, Mika-chan.", he slowly stood up and glared.

"I'm…uh, sorry I'm so late. I tried to hurry.", she weakly offered, and quite confused as to why he was so upset looking. "Is something the matter?" She reached out to him and took his hand.

"Yes, there is.", he plainly stated.

There was a moment of silence as the streetlights flickered on. "….so what is it?"

"You know."

Mika hated getting answers like that. Though gritted teeth she responded, "….I assure you I don't."

"You would rather spend time with Kakashi-sensei than me.", he snapped at her and turned away in a huff, crossing his arms.

She gasped and covered her mouth with both of her hands, at what he said. "Naruto….how could you think that?"

"How could I not? You are always running off with him, like you're his little fan-girl; leaving me all alone."

Alone; the word stung at her heart. "I…I…well." Words were escaping her yet again. _This is why I'm an author and not a politician. __Feed me._ "The thing with him is…..", her eyes fell to the ground. _Ok, like a Band-Aid, just rip if off fast. __Feed me._ "……..god damn it.", she swiveled around and sat down facing away from him on the steps.

Naruto looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He was debating with himself whether he wanted to be mad at her or if finding out what was going on, was more important. Curiosity got the better of him. "Oba-chan?", he knelt down next to her and stared at her rather confused looking face.

Mika was also trying to figure out how she felt at the moment. _There is no reason for me to be ashamed to my nephew about my choosing to date someone, right? _

_Feed me._

_Who cares what a teenage boy thinks?_

_Feed me._

_But because I love the kid, I care about what he thinks…..I think I've lied enough, and it's not like I could ever hide my feelings for Kakashi….What do you think?_

……_Feed me. Feed me. Feed me. Feed me. Feed__—_

_O.k.! Calm down I'll feed you. Jeez… _

Mika felt Naruto grip her bum shoulder. "Ahh, let go.", she grabbed his wrist. "It's still sore from earlier." She told him as if he knew what she was talking about. He didn't.

"I've been talking to you for an entire minute here and you haven't heard a word I said, have you?"

"Uhhhhhh…..", she grinned at him sheepishly. "…no. Sorry. What did you say?", she chirped sweetly.

"I said that 'I talked to Kakashi-sensei and he wouldn't answer me when I asked why he was always around you' and then I said 'I want to know what's going on between the two of you, because ero-sennin said that you two were an item, but you never told me anything'. So what is it?"

She was temporarily stunned at several things her nephew just said. The foremost that stood out was how simply he stated his feelings.

_God, I'm so jealous. For a boy, he's pretty in touch with his emotions. That's gonna make my training him all the easier. _

The second thing she noticed was that Jiraiya actually said they were together before they really were.

…_perverted old man….none of his business…..grrrr._

The last and most irritating piece of information that she picked up on was that Naruto had already asked Kakashi and he didn't say a word.

_What the hell is up with that? _

"Naruto." He looked at her expectantly. "Kakashi and I are going out together."

"…What?!? You and 'him'? But that's like…..really….really...---"

Mika cut him off with a wave of her hand, "What is this about him not telling you about 'us'?" She narrowed her eyes.

_He talked to him already and he didn't mention me? _

_Feed Me!_

"…gross….That's what I was going to say in case you didn't notice that I wasn't done talking.", he spat sarcastically. "But yeah, he just ran out on me when I asked about you."

"Why that no-good, dirty, rotten, son of a –mmmmm.", she grumbled the last part inaudibly while standing up. Her stomach screamed with hunger.

"So you're gonna kick his ass now right?" He stood up with his aunt.

Mika looked at him with a spark in her eye. "You have an affinity for violence, young man. Yes, I do intend on it."

"Awesome, let's go.", he tried to drag her to wherever he thought his teacher would be found.

"Hey, no.", she stood still; he hadn't managed to move her one inch anyway. "Tonight it's you and I having dinner. No side-trips to ass-kickings of bastards that deserve it."

_FEED ME!_

"Yeah! Dinner works too!" The hunger in his stomach must have caught up with him. Lord knows the beast inside hers was on the verge of rebelling.

"So? I said anywhere you want. Where you want to go?" He gave her a 'are you kidding me?' look. "Ichiraku Ramen it is then!"

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**Ah, and I have an affinity for writing this story if I do say so myself. Next chapter: Comedy!'!'!**


	33. Breaking and Entering w Burglary Charges

**Every time you laugh, an angel gets its legs. Sunshine tastes like pennies. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kick everyone's ass! (the classic live-action, not the lame CG animation) Never eat tacos after midnight; else you'll turn into a Gir! (wait, that would be awesome) Read and enjoy my nonsensical hilarity! (not the funniest chapter, but hey, I'm no critic)**

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Chapter 32: Breaking and Entering w/Burglary charges

It was the dead of night. Clouds hid the moon and stars, so that darkness covered everything. Suddenly, the streetlights outside of the Hokage's mansion went out, following the sound of an open electrical circuit, buzzing and crackling. Two figures darted and dashed outside of the building.

"I'm starting to think that this isn't such a good idea." One of the two whispered.

The other snapped back, still in a whisper. "You've done this before, I know you have. Now shut up or else we'll get caught!"

The pair snuck inside through a second-story window and proceeded on to the main hallway. The regular ANBU patrols inside were few and far between, but the more determined of the two wasn't going to let that stop them. Dragging the other silently in tow, it was only a quick twenty foot dash to reach an air conditioning duct that was easily accessed by the two intruders.

Once both were inside the tunnels; the brave one turned to the other, "Come on, the records room is up one more floor and on the east side of the building. We can make it there in less than two minutes if you don't make me drag you."

"You don't have to drag me. I'll go on my own, but I'm warning you. You just don't know how big a deal Granny Tsunade is gonna make of this. She is going to be freaking pissed as hell!", the other replied in hushed tones.

"Screw her. We are only retrieving property that belongs to our family in the first place. If anything we should be pissed that they hid it from us. Come on, let's go. Oh and don't look up my dress, m'kay."

"Eck… let's just hurry before we get caught."

-Wherever Kakashi is-

Kakashi was on the first floor, about to start up the steps to the Hokage's office, when the lights randomly went out. _How often does the power go out?_, he asked himself. Shrugging his shoulders he continued up the stairs in the dark. By the time he had made it to the second floor, he noticed two ANBU guards looking up at an air conditioning duct and pointing at it. "What's wrong with the lights?", he asked as he walked toward them.

One looked at him and then back up at the vent. "Either we have very large rats or clumsy intruders. This vent cover is obviously ajar.", he said pointing upwards.

"Ah, well. I'm sure it's not something too serious. Best of luck in catching those 'rats'.", he continued on to Tsunade's office.

There was a faint glow of light coming from underneath the doorway as he tentatively knocked. A slightly affirmative grumble signified that access inside was granted and he entered. Tsunade was sitting at her desk surrounded by candles that Shizune was scurrying around lighting. "This outage doesn't have anything to do with you does it?", Tsunade asked with an accusing tone.

"No, of course not, Hokage-sama.", he bowed curtly. "I noticed that your guards were on the trail of whom or whatever caused it. I would imagine that the power will come back shortly though."

"Hmph. Well, what is it that you wanted?" She picked up a cup of her favorite drink.

"I thought you would like to know that by this time two days from now, you'll have another fully trained ninja working for you."

"You're that confident that Mika is going to lose, eh? Good. I've got enough problems with the Rain Country, Akatsuki, Orochimaru and now frickin' Danzo is bitching in my ear about my every decision. Asshole doesn't think I can handle the job. I don't want to worry about Mika running off again or anything."

"I fairly certain that even if she won, that she wouldn't run away again.", he reassured her.

"Is that so? Why's that?"

"…Just an instinct is all." Whatever slight blush he had, was hidden by his mask. Perhaps that's why he likes to wear it so much.

The lights flickered and turned back on. "Ah, finally. That is so much better." Tsunade turned to Shizune. "Get rid of all of these candles, we don't need them and I don't like their smell." The assistant's shoulders slumped down. She had just finished lighting all of them. Then, quite to everyone's surprise, a fire alarm started to sound. "Is it because of the candles?", Tsunade asked no one in particular. As she stood up from her desk, the alarm turned off and sounds of a struggle were heard outside of the office doors.

—voices—

"I didn't do anything wrong! It's all her fault!"

"Would you shut up and stop struggling, you're embarrassing me!"

"I don't care if you're 'embarrassed'. I don't want to die when Granny Tsunade finds out!"

"….We're outside her office, dumbass."

"GAH!!! NOOOOO!!! You can't make me go in there!"

More sounds of struggling were heard as the doors were opened and Mika and Naruto were lead in by an entire squadron of ANBU. Mika walked in without a fight; her hands holding a book behind her back, but Naruto continued to fight, even though the guard holding him had covered his mouth to shut him up.

"What the hell is this?", Tsunade barked.

The ANBU leading Mika in spoke. "These two broke into the mansion and were found raiding the Records Storage Room. When we discovered them, they tried to escape and they gave us a good run for our money too."

"How did they get in? How did you catch them?" Tsunade was curious, given their…unorthodox appearance.

"Our security system would have caught them earlier if the power hadn't gone out. It looked like lightning struck the main power line to it. And as for catching them...", the captain turned and snickered at the two standing there, drenched to the bone. "They set off the fire alarm in their attempt to escape. The water caught them off guard and we moved in to collect them."

"Correction: Naruto set off the fire alarm, not I.", Mika interjected into the conversation. Tsunade stared at her and then broke out into hysterical laughter; only managing to breathe long enough to dismiss the ANBU regiment.

Though Tsunade was the only one laughing out loud, Mika noticed that Shizune was covering her mouth while Kakashi's chest shook every few seconds in an attempt to stifle his own laughter. She could only imagine just how pathetic the two of them looked. Mika, in her white, now ruined, silk dress that was wrinkled and sticking to her skin, along with her long hair, now matted against her face, neck, and back. Naruto stood to her right is a similarly awkward state; his hair flattened and his sleeves still dripping water profusely.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Tsunade asked Mika, "So…'snicker' what was so important that you couldn't have just asked for it?"

The tousled blonde pulled the large book from behind her back. "Naruto and I were at dinner and we got to talking about how he had never seen any pictures of his family. And I remembered about the Records room and figured that maybe there was a chance that some old family heirlooms might have gotten stored there. So, we kind of decided to go and look and we found this. It's a photo album…. Waterproof, thank god."

"Let me see that.", Tsunade snatched it from her grasp and opened it up. Shizune walked over and Mika took a step forward to look too. The three of them started 'ooohhh'-ing and 'ahhh'-ing and making comments on the different photos, the life that used to be for so many people. Mika in particular was so preoccupied with the album that she hadn't noticed the eye that was burning holes through her.

_Dear lord, look at her. She's soaked in that dress….and it's sticking in all the right places, all the right curves. And it's white…if only it was cotton and not silk….Stop it. I gotta calm down, keep my blood pressure low….but oh, her hair. This just isn't right. It's like a bad dream, where you can't reach out and touch her…. God, I thought her legs looked long in shorts, but in that dress….it's like they go on forever…………what's that growling noise?_, Kakashi's attention drifted to just behind and to the left of him. Naruto stood there, actually growling to an extent. _Is he seriously growling at me? ….Mika told him, didn't she?_

"What's that growling?", Mika turned to see her nephew glaring at Kakashi. "Oh, uh, down boy.", she smacked him over the head. He slowed backed off and stood in front of her in order to block his teacher's view of her rather disheveled state. "Calm down, seriously.", she whispered in his ear. "I realize you don't like the situation, but some things in life you just have to deal with."

"I'll deal with it, but I ain't gonna like it.", he spat.

Mika sighed and glanced at Kakashi with a 'I-know,-forget-about-it-and-he'll-be-fine' look. She wasn't really angry anymore over the whole; he didn't say anything to Naruto thing. Thinking about it for a few hours and filling her stomach with the best ramen in the whole universe was enough to satisfy her hunger and just let it go. If she were him, she wouldn't want to tell Naruto either. "It's late, Tsunade-sama. We should really get going.", Mika took the photo album back from her and reached for Naruto's hand.

"Uh, where do you think you're going?", she looked at her like she was stupid.

"Home I guess." The guilty party took another step back.

"You broke into my mansion. That's a capital offense."

"…" Mika's eyes dodged to her left while she thought up some bullshit way out of this. "…Well, I guess I just figured that you would want Naruto well rested for his continuing test tomorrow. Unless you think that he would do fine with one night in jail."

"What! I don't want to go to jail!", Naruto shouted and pulled on his aunt's arm at the same time.

"Ouch, stop that. I already told you that hurts.", she snapped at him. It really was as if the two of them had known each other a long time; bickering like normal relatives in such.

Tsunade took a second to think. She knew that she couldn't mention the bet, otherwise she could lose by disqualification, and that Kakashi was confident that Mika was going to lose anyway, "Fine, you're both pardoned….just this once. Do you hear me?"

"Of course.", Mika chirped sweetly; proud that Tsunade was bending under the weight of her words. "Come on you.", she grabbed her nephew by the collar and started to drag him out of the office. On their way out she shouted over her shoulder, "Good-bye Tsunade-sama, Shizune, ….Kareshi-kun." A smirk played across her face as Kakashi raised his eyebrow at her choice of words.

Mika just continued out of the room. Her wet dress was starting to irritate her and she was beat from a hectic day. Think about it. She had made Sakura kiss Lee, officially gotten herself a boyfriend, gone through an intense workout with Gai, had a really emotional moment with Gai, went through yet another emotional mine-field with her nephew, broken into the Hokage's mansion, and while managing to foil the security alarm, been soaked by the fire sprinkler system and captured by ANBU guards, who then proceeded to escort her to Tsunade's office where she stood embarrassed in her awkward state for 15 minutes in front of an entire ANBU regiment, the Hokage, her assistant, and her boyfriend. It was a long day.

"Kareshi?", Shizune questioned looking at Kakashi.

"Now I see why you don't think she would run away again.", Tsunade smirked and sat back down behind her desk.

* * *

**Funny, funny? Or just Kinda, funny? I must know!**


	34. Missed Opportunity

**Hmmm… I can't think of anything funny, strange or silly to write here. This chapter is kinda boring. Sry, but such things must be written to fill time and build characters and their histories. Next two chapters though, well… they're 'interesting'. Read and enjoy my bookworms.**

* * *

Chapter 33: Missed Opportunity

The next day, found Mika leaning against a tree at the training grounds, proofreading through her latest chapter for the usual grammatical and structural errors that she would make while writing fast and not really knowing where her own story was headed. Her red pen twitched while she added sentences to the story in the margins of the page, while crossing out whole sections that seemed too…'eck'.

_I don't even know why I write romance novels. _

_You ask yourself that question way too much._

_I hardly know anything about love, let alone an actual relationship. But considering my main audience is girls like Sakura, well, I guess I can see how they would relate to my stories. Juliet meets Romeo, screws that up. Juliet meets Prince Charming, lets it slip through her hands. Juliet meets Mr. Right, and fucks that up completely. Then for my trademark happy ending, Juliet and Romeo are reunited…only Romeo is with Cinderella and they are living Juliet's happily ever after, the end. Wow, that like completely sums up all three of my books. Do you think Juliet should kill herself? Might cause a stir and sell more copies._

_I'm gonna ignore your poorly veiled attempts at suggesting our own suicide._

_I'm not that fucked up. _

_You need to take control of your life._

_How am I supposed to do that? I've been taking orders and having plans made for me since forever. _

_'sigh' Whatever. I'm hungry again. Feed me._

-F.B.-

Mika was still a genin just wandering around the Hokage's, her brother's, mansion. No one really seemed to notice her small frame ambling down the hallways, causing just the slightest bit of mayhem. She had nothing better to do. Kakashi was off on his first ANBU mission, she wasn't supposed to know that, but she was good at eavesdropping, and her brother was busy in his office. Mika had yet to be assigned a team, but that fact didn't really bother her. It was much more interesting for her to accompany random teams on oddball missions. Though the villagers were less than kind toward her, other ninja seemed much more comfortable with her presence.

After getting bored with making people's hair stand on end with a good, completely unnoticeable dose of static electricity; she decided to see her brother. She was hungry and knew he would take her to lunch if she begged him just a little bit. The chicken-legged blonde made it to the top floor, where Minato's office was, when she felt an eerie chakra presence.

_I know that chakra signature._, she thought to herself. _It's Orochimaru-san. What is he doing here, I wonder?_

Of course she knew the sannin, everyone did. It had been between her brother and him for the position of Hokage. She also knew who he was because of who his only student was; Anko, her own personal demon.

Since Mika had graduated from the academy, she hadn't seen as much of her as she usually had, but when she did cross paths with that hateful brunette…it wasn't pretty. After their latest brawl, Mika had a gash in her thigh and Anko had one across her stomach. Though Mika hated her, she knew better than to kill her, so she made sure the injury she inflicted on her was only cosmetic; unfortunately Anko did not share the same sentiment with her. Thank god for doctors and spiritually implanted monsters.

Mika slowly walked up to the door of the office and she couldn't help but begin to eavesdrop on the conversation. What she heard made her stop in her tracks rather than continue onward into the room.

–Internal Conversation—

"The answer is no."

"I'm not sure you understand the opportunity you are depriving your sister of."

_---I'm being 'deprived' of something?_, Mika thought as she continued to listen in.---

"Hokage-sama, just listen to me for a moment."

"I think I've heard enough, thank you. My answer is no. I will not assign Hana to you. You have Anko; I hear she's a handful all on her own."

"Hana has the natural talent and determination that Anko doesn't possess. I could show her so many different things. It's not even like anyone else is jumping at the chance to teach her. From what I hear, two jounin have already turned her assignment down." There was a pause. "You know I could make her into one of the best."

"…no."

"Why?", he demanded. The hissing voice sounded as if it were trying to restrain itself.

"You really want to know?" Mika heard a chair slide across the floor. She assumed that her brother had stood up from his desk. There was another moment of silence. "Your morals are no secret. What you consider 'acceptable' in the line of duty and 'just' in the name of discovery, are by no means what I want my little sister to learn as the correct way of doing things. As it is, if the council hadn't twisted my arm, you wouldn't have ever been given charge of Anko."

Mika was so completely enthralled by the dramatic stand-off that was going on inside her brother's office, that she nearly had a heart attack when she felt a hand ruffle her hair. 'GASP', she jumped forward and swiveled around to face her attacker. She let escape a sigh of relief when all she saw was Jiraiya with that stupid grin of his.

"Whatcha doin' out here, kid?", he asked.

'Sshhhh', Mika motioned for him to be quiet. "Come on.", she whispered grabbing his hand and leading him away from the doors to the office.

"What's going on?"

"Ani-sama, is talking to Orochimaru."

"Really? Why?"

The short pre-teen took a second to run through the conversation she had overheard, in her head, before she answered him. "Orochimaru-san wants to teach me. I think that would be wonderful, but my big brother refuses to let him. He says that he is 'immoral' or something like that."

"Hmmm…" Jiraiya turned around to face the office down the hall. "I guess it's for the best.", he seemed to be quietly agreeing with himself.

"What do you mean, 'it's for the best'? No one wants to teach me, and here comes one of the legendary sannin, volunteering to teach me and my brother is telling him 'no' and insulting him!"

Jiraiya looked down at her and gave a weak smile. "You don't know him like your brother and I do."

"What the Hell does that mean?"

"Hey now," He tugged on her hair. "You're too young to curse."

"It's not a curse word, it's an actual place."

"Smartass.", he laughed and shook his head at the young child. "Look, don't worry about the whole 'teacher' thing, alright? You've done just fine working on your own, reading those textbooks and with your brother."

"'Just fine' isn't good enough!"

"Well, that's your fault.", he snapped back at her. "If you want to get any better, maybe you should just work harder. Here you are, just wandering around the hallways here, when you could be out practicing."

Mika pondered the facts. _Hn. Since I'm my own teacher, and I'm slacking off right now, then it really is my fault that I'm not better. Wow, Jiraiya-sama is smart._ "Ok, well, I'm going to go practice by the river and you tell Ani-sama to bring me some food! The Rokubi is whining about not being fed again.", Mika took off running down the stairs.

"Alright then, see you around kid.", he shouted after her.

-End F.B.-

Mika didn't even bother paying too much attention to the short eleven minute fight between Naruto and Lee. Yea, after only eleven minutes, Lee gave up basically. She could tell, not that it was difficult, since she had been training with him. He let Naruto reverse his Lotus spinning thing on him. A pathetic end for a kid she would have called a taijutsu master.

Half leaning against the tree and Mika's shoulder, was Kakashi, reading his usual literature. Despite the fact that she had already read the book he had in his hands, boredom was gnawing at her eyes. It was a real challenge to not let her eyes drift from her work to his pleasure. She couldn't help it. She would read anything that came across her line of sight and it was just so close. The past few days had been hectic and it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to concentrate on her actual work. Or at least that's a taste of the plethora of excuses that flashed through her mind.

His eyes rose up from his book, to look over at her. "Yes?", he asked.

"I didn't say anything, but if Naruto asks, I already kicked your ass. M'kay.", Mika rubbed her eyes and put her notebook away.

"Yea, o.k.", he answered in a nonchalant manner. Naruto came running up, yet again in triumph.

"Come on oba-chan! Let's go!", he was trying to drag her out onto the field.

Mika just leaned back against the tree and watched as he expended a great effort into pulling on her right arm. "Are you done yet?", she muttered.

"I have to fight you next and that's what I'm gonna do!" He again started to tug at her again.

"I'll fight you tomorrow. I'm kind of tired right now.", she yawned.

"That's not very fair." Kakashi slid his hand behind her back and started to push her forward.

She turned her head to face him, "Life's not fair." The irony that, those were the first words you had ever spoken to him, hit the both of you. Minds like steel traps, yea? Mika only managed to keep a straight face for a few seconds before she laughed. He laughed to, but only because she had let her guard down, as he pushed her forward. "Hey now! Watch it!....", she shouted before purposely tripping herself. "….boy.", she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. "I'm not going to fight today.", she calmly explained to Naruto as much as the surrounding group. "Tomorrow at 11 a.m. I swear. Ya'll guys can invite whomever ya'll want to, to watch me kick Naruto's ass."

"Sounds good to me.", Kiba nodded with the others.

"That's not right!" Naruto shouted into her face.

Mika instantly shot up to her feet. "Ungrateful! That's what you are! You ungrateful little brat!" He was taken aback from her sudden change in demeanor. "I save your ass from a night in jail and all you can do is whine, when I say I'm tired!"

"Jail?", a number of the kids questioned quietly, while the two of them shouted.

"I wouldn't have been about to go to JAIL if it weren't for YOU!", he regained his backbone and fought back.

"He has a point… punk." Kakashi poked her shoulder.

Slowly, Mika turned to face Kakashi, putting on the sweetest and most innocent face she could muster. "I don't want to fight today, Kashi-kun.", she stared deeply into his eye with her angelic blue ones; her golden locks brushing just past her shoulders.

_Aww, hell…._, he thought to himself.

"You're not going to let her get away with this are you Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted from behind her.

"Ooooo…. It's too late, Naruto." Sakura was with the rest of the kids off to the side.

"Yep, way too late.", TenTen agreed with her.

"What the hell are you two talking about?", Kiba was taking Naruto's side in this.

"Just look at her.", Hinata, along with the other girls, was jealous in a good way. "She's positively lovely."

Lee, Shino, and Kiba took a closer look at Mika, then Kakashi, then Mika again. "Dude, Naruto." Kiba started, "Your teacher is so screwed. It isn't even funny. It's just sad."

"No, kidding.", added Shino.

"I don't think that I have ever been so torn." Jiraiya said to Gai. "At the same time that I'm happy Kakashi found such a pretty girl, its fate that it's Mika. And I know she is just using him to get her way right now. Women can be so conniving, and yet….so perfect." He drifted off into his own little world of barely legal, bikini-clad girls.

Gai just let out a sigh as he stood waiting for the eventual ending to this mild form of torture.

"Shut up, Kiba!" Naruto snapped at him. "Kakashi-sensei, if you don't make her follow her own rules, then I'll tell her how you made sure that I would win!"

Mika's sweet, pure face tilted sideways at the end of Naruto's threat. She closed her eyes to hide her sudden feeling of intense anger.

_Crap, I knew it. He cheated. What do I do now? _

_I'll tell you._

_Really? _

_Yea, just do exactly as I say._

Mika reopened her eyes and resumed her graceful appearance and shrugged her shoulders.

"Huh?" Kakashi raised his eyebrow. "You're not mad?"

"Nah,", she walked forward and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Nuzzling her forehead against his cheek she simply told him, "It doesn't matter, so long as you let me fight tomorrow."

_Good, make him feel like he's in control._

"Well…" He had wrapped his arms around her, returning the embrace. The girls cooed and the boys looked away in shame for their gender. "Do you really have to put it off? I mean, why?"

_Grrrr…._

_It's ok. I have an excuse._

"I need to go buy a sword handle, honest I promise.", Mika murmured into his ear.

_That's your excuse?_

_I really do need to go buy one though. _

_What for?_

_Think about it._

…_.oh, yea. Aww damn, your nephew doesn't stand a chance._

"Oh, ok then.", he squeezed her tighter before letting go. "You can fight her tomorrow, Naruto."

"There's a phrase for what you are." Naruto said in an accusing tone toward his teacher.

"What's that?"

"…. I don't think it would be right for me to say it."

"Yea, right.", Mika interjected. "You don't know any phrase."

"You stay outta this, you, you….corruptor! You!", he shouted.

"Awww, you used a grown-up word.", she patted him condescendingly on the head.

The irritated boy pulled his head away from her touch. "I thought you were going to beat him up for what he did."

"You mean for what he didn't. And yea, I already took care of it."

"What!? And you didn't involve me?!"

Mika ignored the rage filled question. "…You're really clingy. Shouldn't you be more worried about your test?" She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek and whispered to him, "Remember. My test, my rules. I will always win."

She turned and walked away with Kakashi. "We'll see about that.", Naruto snickered after she was out of earshot.

"I knew it!", Sakura squealed. "I knew they were an item!" The other girls giggled with her. "We gotta go tell everyone!"

* * *

**Yawn, I wonder if I'll finish the next chapter before I have to go to school?**


	35. A New Reaction

Chapter 34: A New Reaction

"So which way to a good weapons shop?" Mika had been wandering around Konoha aimlessly with Kakashi. He just stared at her for a moment.

"Are you seriously saying that we've been walking around, and you don't know where we're headed?"

"Uh, yea. Helloooo! Haven't lived here in fifteen years!", she pointed to herself. "Things change, besides, I never bought my own weapons while I did live here. Ani-sama always bought 'em for me. I've never stepped foot in a weapons shop." She gave a sweet smile, meant to reflect a truly innocent aspect of her life.

"Seriously?"

"Yea."

"But seriously?"

"…..yea."

"You're not kidding?"

"No, I am not kidding. Do you think I like being lost, wandering around aimlessly, surrounded by people that I don't particularly like?; you excluded of course." Mika answered in a completely sincere manner, not at all irritated with his questioning.

He tilted his head to the side, "…really?"

"…" Then it hit her. "…bastard. You've been messing with me haven't you!?!"

"Just a little bit.", he walked forward to her, grabbing her by the waist and leading her further down the street. "But you were headed in the right direction, provided you took a lot of detours, but in the right direction."

"Hn.", she pouted, but didn't respond otherwise.

"So what exactly do you need a 'sword handle' for?"

Mika took a deep breath. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you." _Nice sarcastic sentiment._

"Aww…come on. You can tell me…and not kill me.", Kakashi shook her a little bit.

"…fine. Here's a hint; since you're such a genius I'm not going to flat out tell you. Remember when I made those kunai come out of the ground?"

"Yes."

"Well, there you go. That's your hint." The pair of them walked up to a shop with a large, obvious sign that let you know it was a weapon shop. "This it?"

"…yea.", he was thinking about her hint as they walked inside. "So, you don't need a blade, because you're going to make you own?"

_Well, golly gee whiz, no point in hiding it now, eh?__ Hn. Yea, whatever._ "Yup." Mika turned to the shop clerk and asked if he had any replacement handles. He nodded and went to the back storage to get her one. She turned back to face Kakashi, mimicking his lazy expression.

"You shouldn't do that.", he glared at her.

"Why not?"

"Because your face will stay that way."

"Is that your excuse?" _Burn!_

"I look cool, you just look hung-over."

"…Did I tell you what a wonderful boyfriend you are, today?"

He smiled under his mask and shook his head. "Honesty is the foundation of any good relationship. And no, you didn't."

The concept ran laps throughout her mind. _Shit…Soon, I'll tell him soon. I swear I will. I promised Watari. _

_Oh yea, cause birds are super intelligent and you should totally take advice from them._

_Ravens are the most intelligent of all birds, even smarter than parrots; it's a scientific fact._ "Well, you are.", she mumbled.

The clerk returned with a simple black handle. "There you are ma'am. Are you sure you wouldn't like an entire sword?"

"Yes, I'm sure thank you.", she replied in a bright and friendly tone, paying the man.

"Hey, I was thinking that we should do something tonight." Kakashi was just walking next to her, face stuck down in his book.

"Like what?", she absently replied, her eyes and hands glued to the handle she just bought.

"A few drinks, maybe meet up with a few friends. Nothing too stressful or anything."

"Hmm…. Yea, I like the sound of that." Mika flipped the handle in her hands a few times, testing the balance of it. "What time?"

"Uhhh…." _…..what time indeed? I'm always late anyway._

A noisy little kid in a flat brown messengers hat came running and shouting up to Mika. "Excuse me ma'am. Are you Ms. Yoshida?"

"Uh, yea. Can I help you?", she bent down to his level.

"You're late with your latest installment and the boss is pissed!", the little boy shouted in her face.

Slowly standing up she calmly replied, "Ah, I see. Well, you must be new to the publishing firm. I've never seen your ugly mug before." Turning to Kakashi, "You know what, I gotta take care of this. You just come by my place whenever and we'll go out then, kay?"

"Whenever works out just fine with me." His eye squinted with a smile.

"Bye.", she hugged him and then roughly grabbed the kid by his collar, dragging him off. "O.k. since you're new, I'll forgive your little 'indiscretion' back there. But let's get something straight here, I'm the talent. That means I'm better than you, and you should be respectful to me. You hear me, you little brat?" Mika's voice faded as she walked down the street toward her apartment.

-Hours later-

The sun had set but there was still a glow of light all around the village. Mika dozed peacefully on the couch in her living room; a book on proper genjutsu techniques resting open across her face, effectively blocking out the fading sunlight, and her left arm under a pillow supporting her head.

_Hn, nose always stuck in a book… Better wake her up gently now._ Kakashi very gingerly picked the book off of her face and set it slowly on the floor beside him, after examining its contents. _Genjutsu? That never was your strong suit. Were you learning something new or are you just toying with me while you sleep?_ The soft sound of the book touching the floor roused her.

With her eyes still shut, "…you do know that I could have killed you just now, right?"

"With what?" She got an innocent reply.

"With this!" Mika whipped her left arm out from under her head. _What the….?_ Her hand was empty.

"Oh, you mean this?" Kakashi pulled a small crystal kunai out from behind his back.

She stared at him with slanted eyes and a slack jaw. "…oh, you're good.", she smirked.

"Yup." His eyes squinted in a smile. "You ready to go?"

"Mmmmm…..", she looked down at herself. Still dressed in her shorts, tank top, and shirt, she replied, "…yes. Just let me brush my hair right quick." She got up off the couch and walked to the bathroom.

"What? No dress this time?", he shouted after the barely awake girl.

"Huh?", she stuck her head out of the bathroom, still combing her hair.

"Well, you dressed up all fancy for Naruto the other night."

"I swear….", Mika shook her head side to side. "Naruto complains about you, you complain about him; just to make things absolutely perfect, the next thing I know Jiraiya's gonna be upset that I'm not paying enough attention to him."

Kakashi just laughed as he walked toward the front door to wait for her. Thirty seconds later, she joined him.

"Well, that certainly took you long enough." He opened the door and started to lead the way out.

_Oh, you have got to be kidding me…_ Mika locked the door behind her and took a few seconds to obviously stare at his own peculiar hair style. "Somehow I think you take longer than me." She lowered her eyes to meet his.

He again laughed and continued down the stairs.

The two of them walked in one of those comfortable silences. It was probably one of the top three reasons they liked each other so much. Being able to walk in complete silence and not get that awful, awkward feeling in the pit of your stomach. Mika was in yet another part of town that she didn't recognize. All of the different sights eventually led to her walking backwards so that she could take all of it in.

"Careful, you don't want to fall down.", Kakashi warned her, not looking up from his book.

"….that's why you're here.", she absently replied. New things sparked her curiosity easily, so it was difficult to look away.

"We're just about--", he cut himself off at the sight of a certain person. _It's o.k., things change. I'm sure this isn't going to be a problem._

"What is it?", Mika swiveled around on her heel to come face to face with a woman. _….son of a bitch. __Well this sucks._

"Heh, so it's not just a rumor. You really are back from the dead. And trouncing around town with Kakashi no less.", the woman spat.

Ignoring the second half of the woman's statement Mika replied, "Technically, I was never dead so I couldn't have come 'back' from that state of being."

_Shit, I shouldn't have said that. It's just gonna piss her off. Damn my innate sarcasm. _

_Go ahead, take her out. I got your back!_

"Hello.", Mika cheerfully greeted the handful of men standing behind her. All of them acknowledged the greeting and replied in some way. They apparently had no qualms with her.

"Hey!", the woman pushed Mika's shoulders back, interrupting her friendly formalities with her little posse. "I'm talking to you, bitch!"

"Whoa, hey now. Calm down, alright?" Kakashi stood between the two of them. "Hey guys, back me up here.", he motioned to the group behind her. A fairly heated argument was beginning, but instead of Mika's blood boiling over like it normally would, she fell into an internal conversation with yourself.

_This is kind of weird. _

_You're telling me._

_I mean, why am I not going 'rabid monkey' on her ass? I feel like….like…. _

_Like you've grown up and physically hurting her would be like murdering an innocent child?_

_No, not really, but kinda…..God, I remember how mad I used to get. _

_Yup, I remember too. I was the one protecting you._

_In a way, you were the cause of it. _

_What!?!_

_It's not a big deal. It's just I'm fairly certain that she only ever hated me cause of you. _

_That Bitch!_

…_..hmmm, yea. Why do you suppose I'm not reacting to this situation? I'm always the first to say something when I'm threatened. _

_Maybe it's cause you lived a better life than she did and so now you feel bad._

_You already suggested that._

_I know, it's because I'm right. Listen, seeing as how you're staying calm here, just stay graceful, and kick her ass._

_Per say? _

_I meant literally._

_I think that I have grown into a more subtle foe. I'll just play this one by ear. _

_You are too nice of a person, you know that?_

…_.hehehe, at least I'm not gay. _

_Shut up! I'm not fucking gay!_

Mika's eyes shot back up to the quarrel that was happening right in front of her. The woman was getting more and more pissed by the nanosecond and was about to throw a punch at Kakashi for a reason that she missed during her internal conversation. He could have caught it easily, being that he was standing directly in front of her, effectively blocking her from the entire scuffle.

Mika reached up and placed her hands on his shoulders, leaning up and telling him to move, that everything was going to be o.k. The woman's arm was caught by one of the men standing behind her, who Mika suddenly recognized as Iruka. Kakashi moved and Mika walked forward embracing the psychotic woman in a hug.

"No more of these 'physical altercations', alright? We're adults now.", she whispered in her ear with a slightly condescending tone, before taking a step back. The entire group was now silently standing in front of the bar. All were in a state of utter shock. Mika glanced around and let out a small laugh, "Just so ya'll know, Hell did not just freeze over, I assure you." _She and I are far from being on friendly terms._

_Holy crap….._ "Well, that was a pleasant surprise.", Kakashi put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder and smiled at the group. _Just act casual._ "So….are you guys headed here too?"

"Uh….yeah. Just for a few rounds.", Iruka nodded toward the drinking establishment.

"Oh how nice.", Mika grinned. "Why don't we all sit together? Catch up on old times and such?" Her smile caught the boys off guard so they just nodded in approval. "You gonna stick with us, Anko?"

The evil woman squinted her eyes and crinkled her nose at Mika. _She's up to something, I just know it. No good, demon child…._ "Yeah. After you, Hana.", she motioned toward the door.

"Why thank you. But it's Mika now.", she tilted her head at Anko as she walked into the bar, ahead of the group.

* * *

…**'sigh' I'm gonna have to put a disclaimer that the beginning of the next chapter, aren't I? Oh well, prepare to be shocked out of your freakin socks!**


	36. Split Personalities

**Cough, cough; Here is your PSA. Drinking competitions do not prove anything, except who can hold down more liquor. Not that big a deal to find out in the first place, but whatever… **_Eat bread. It helps!!!_** Get out of my PSA! Also, it is never rude to refuse a drink. If you don't want to, then don't.**

**Now then, I do not support yaoi, yuri or anything else that would be deemed excessive. I don't hate people that do like it, but personally I don't like it. This chapter just kinda ended up like it is. I was listening to that Katy Perry song a bit too much and then… this chapter happened. I thought it was funny and realistic so I kept it. Hope it doesn't drive too many of ya'll away.**

* * *

Chapter 35: Split-Personalities

Three hours had passed and it was definitely night time. By now Mika had been reminded of everyone's names, including but not limited to: Iruka, Genma, Raidou, Kotetsu, Izumo, and Yamato; who she already kind of knew.

Two things would happen when Mika drank; first, she would get talkative and friendly; your stereotypical happy drunk. Second, she would become competitive to the point of stupidity, as if her natural competitiveness wasn't enough. Thankfully she wasn't quite at the second stage of her intoxication, yet.

Mika was just about to deliver the punch line to a story she had completely made-up on the spot. "So he turned to the gal and said, 'Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.'!" Everyone but Anko erupted in laughter. "Aww, come on.", she prodded the grumpy girl across the table. "That was funny."

"I've heard it before.", she coldly answered her from across the narrow table.

"…ah, I see. _Bullshit._ "Well, then…. You got any stories?" She stared at Mika as she took another swig of her drink. "No? Alright then, how about one-liners? I know I'm great with witty one-liners, oooo or better yet! Movie quotes! Everyone loves famous movie quotes!"

"Heh.", she gave a slight laugh. "Yea, I got one for ya'." She cleared her throat, "Wouldja do me a favor, Mika? Drop dead!"

A collective 'oooooo' came from the group, which was already 79 percent intoxicated.

"Ouch.", Mika clutched her chest like she had been stabbed ….just like old times really. "How about this one?", she replied. "'Don't mess with the bull, young lady. You'll get the horns!"

"I bet you can squeal like a pig!"

"You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

"I think it pisses God off when you walk by!" Anko stood up.

"Stupid is as stupid does!" Mika followed suit and stood as well.

"I know you are, but what am I!"

"I know you are, but what am I!", Mika shouted back at her. Anko let out a near-primitive grunt as she lunged across the table at the blonde grabbing hold of her right arm and hair. "Ah! God damn it! Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!" Mika kept just enough composure to fight back, grabbing hold of Anko's hair and the collar of her jacket.

"Dear Lord!", Izumo shouted as he and the others also lunged forward to attempt to separate the two incredibly pissed women.

"Mika! Let Go!", Kakashi shouted in her ear as he tried to pry Anko's hand off of her arm, while at the same time holding her waist to keep her from being dragged across the table. Raidou was keeping Anko from ripping her hair out from the roots. Mika dropped her collar, but wouldn't let her hair go until she let her own hair go.

"Anko! Calm down!" "Let Her Go!" "Ugh!" Genma, Yamato, and Iruka all shouted as they tugged on the terrifying beast that was growling just inches from Mika's face.

The two of them flew apart and were sitting across from each other, gasping for breath, when Kotetsu broke out into a hysterical laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Oh my god! I got one too! Listen, listen! 'Soylent Green is people!!!'"

There were a few snickers before Mika laughed out loud too. Alcohol does funny things to peoples' personalities. "HAHAHA!! Oh boy! I think you've had too much!", she reached over and took his shot glass from him, downing what was left in it. She had a pretty good buzz going, which is probably what drove her to do what she did next. She looked at the glass for a moment before slamming the shot glass on the table, challenging Anko to out drink her.

The completely drunk brunette stared at Mika in utter disbelief, before calling out to the waitress to bring a bottle of tequila. You see, Anko had a similar second stage of intoxication to Mika. At first she will be one of those grumpy, mean drunks; then she mellows out, begins to think that everything is 'beautiful', and anything is fair game. Drinking competitions not excluded.

"Mika, do you really want to do this?" Kakashi had only had a few shots over the course of the night, when no one was looking; which accounted for most, but not all, of the 21 percent sobriety of the group.

"She's not better than me.", Mika whispered to him. "I have to prove that I'm just like her. I'm normal like her. I'm not a bad person." Her gaze fell back to her shot glass.

"No one ever said you were bad." He looked around the room. "Did they?" It never occurred to him to ask her why beating her in a drinking competition would prove she was a good person.

Mika turned back to face him again, blinking her eyes a few times to focus the blurry image that was mere inches from her face. "What did you say to me?", she spoke in an incredulous manner. She had actually heard the Rokubi's voice in her head.

_You're embarrassing yourself. Christ, you're embarrassing me! Just stop right now. My word is law!_

"Do not speak to me of rules. This is war! This is not a game of cricket!" Mika swiveled around to face Anko. "Pour the damn drinks!"

"Gladly.", she gave a surprisingly mellow response. She just hit her limit.

Kakashi looked to the right of table, more to take a moment to process what was probably going to happen next in this strange scenario. It was then that his eye caught sight of a red-headed woman sitting at the bar. Really it was more like her eye caught him. She had been staring for a while. He had noticed but chose to ignore it, but when he looked directly he couldn't stop the flicker of recognition between them. Yes, he knew her and she knew him…well. She winked at him; he blinked, though it may have looked as a response in return. Faster than he may have realized, he turned his attention back to Mika. _She's really drunk. I should stop her. Then again, she's a grown woman and she can do what she wants. Hm…what to do, what to do?_

Mika looked about the group of men at the table. "Any of you want in on this?" She shot an intimidating glare. All she got in return was a lot of head shaking and a near collective 'oh no no no no no'. "Fine then, let the real women here compete."

"Here ya' go." Anko spoke in an almost cheerful voice. Mika was too drunk to notice, in her head Anko was still being a bitch. Everyone, except Yamato and Kakashi who were the most sober, thought she was still being a bitch too.

Before the two women was a line of six shots of tequila, with a pile of cut limes in the middle of the table. Mika licked her right hand and covered it with salt and then grabbed a handful of limes to bring closer to her. This was going to be difficult. She wasn't a natural drinker. In fact she had never planned on taking more than a few drinks in the first place, but god damn it, they just kept popping up in front of her. And how rude is it to deny a drink?

"You know you really don't have to do this, Sparky." Kakashi again took hold of her arm.

"You're right; I don't have to do this. I want to do this. I'm better than her. I can beat her at anything now. Beat this piece of trash at her own game."

"Beating her won't prove anything."

"I know that! But it will make her hurt." The drunk blonde stood up and turned to face Anko across the table. "I'm going to make you hurt! For what you are, for what you did to me as a kid!"

Anko stood up in an involuntary response, keeping the rather pleasant look on her face. "Huh?" She innocently cocked her head to the side.

"You bullied me, you taunted me, and you fucking tried to kill me on several occasions! Because of you," Mika pointed an accusing finger at her. "You made it all the easier to walk away from this god-forsaken place! When I left I thought of only two things! Death….and you!" No one was outrageously shocked at the statements, except perhaps for other bar patrons.

Kotetsu started to pound his fist on the table. "Drink, Drink, Drink!", he chanted. Genma and Izumo joined him.

_Oh my god…._, Kakashi's eye drifted to the floor, he'd be damned if it crossed back toward the red-head. _I can't believe that is how she really felt. Well, I guess I should have understood that. She was surrounded by all of that death, no wonder she only had negative thoughts about this place. I never thought it was that big of a deal, but that's just me. I had seen death several times before. Back then, she was still so sweet, no one could have expected her to be able to handle all of it, especially if she saw Minato die. He was her world._

There was a crash on the table.

-Back about 2 minutes-Those with weak constitutions, look away-

Responding to the chanting of their friends, both Anko and Mika reached for the first shot. The first three Mika took went down easy enough, but after that she couldn't stop coughing. Thank god for the limes, they saved her. She went back and took the fourth, not noticing that Anko had finished and was taking Mika's sixth shot from her and downing it herself. Mika finished her fifth and started to cough again.

With eyes closed, the exasperated blonde pointed a finger in the air and began, "I wanna rem---mmmmm" Anko was kissing her.

During Mika's last coughing fit, Anko had crawled across the table and was staring her in the face. Who knew she was a lesbian when she was drunk? And a forceful one at that.

Mika grabbed her collar in an attempt to shove her off, only to have her shoulders grabbed and pulled against the mad woman. Mika looked around frantically at the group around her. Some had their jaws dropped, Kotetsu had a stupid looking grin on his face, and what stood out the most in her mind was that Kakashi was looking the other way. _What the fuck is he doing?!? Help me damn it!_, she thought to no avail.

His attention soon turned back, as Anko slammed Mika's back down onto the table. Whether it was the alcohol, the head trauma from being slammed against a table, or just the masculine presence Anko commanded while straddling her, no one will ever know. But when her tongue started to press against Mika's lips, she couldn't keep her mouth shut. The next thing anyone knew, they were really into it. Let's just say, Mika was imagining someone else. Anko's calloused ninja hands helped.

"………………………………whoa." Kakashi silently uttered beneath his breath, as he turned to see this scene right in front of where he was sitting. This went on for at least ten minutes. Even other bar patrons had joined the crowd. There was no avoiding it; this was going to be a huge piece of gossip in the morning.

"…should we stop 'em?" Iruka asked no one in particular.

"…probably…" Kakashi answered him without taking his eyes off of Mika.

Anko bit her lip harder than she would have liked making her curse out at her. "Ow, fucking bitch!" Mika pushed her up and off of her. The boys took this opportunity to help the two of them off the table. The small crowd dispersed with a couple of 'aww man's', obviously disappointed that the show was over.

"How ya' doing?", Kakashi quietly asked Mika, as she rolled unto his lap.

She lightly coughed and wiped her mouth before responding. "I still don't believe you learned how to kiss from one of Jiraiya's dirty books."

_Ha, holy crap. She thinks that she was kissing me. Is Anko that manly or am I that girly?_ He helped her up onto her feet. "Alright then. I think it's time to go." He began to lead her out of the bar.

"Bye!", Mika softly called to her friends. They all waved, even Iruka dropped Anko to wave goodbye as she threw up all over herself. "Heh,", Mika snickered as she heavily leaned on her boyfriend, "Stupid whore can't even hold her liquor half as good as me."

"Yes, yes." He steadied her as she began to stumble. "You've definitely mastered the art of grace while intoxicated."

"You're just as drunk as me." She straightened up her back and looked him in the eye.

"I'm sure I was at some point in my life, but after that rather 'sobering' performance in there, I think I'm competent enough to stand trial. Come on."

"Oh you liked that 'performance' didn't you?", Mika laughed, quite loudly in fact. He kept walking forward. "Ooooo, I see you blushing!", she jabbed him in the cheek.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He grabbed her hand and held it down at her side.

"Oh don't try to out lie a liar! I can see it in your eyes—er, one eye. Ha ha ha! One eye, Cyclops. Hehehe."

"Yea, o.k., ha ha." He answered in a condescending manner.

"No, listen to me. I know you liked it because that exact same thing happens in your precious little book! Chapter Four, paragraphs 6 thru 13. A rather steamy section if I do say so myself!" Mika giggled.

He glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. "…..you've memorized passages from my book?"

"Of course I have. I love his books! Whenever I would get stuck in my writing or heck whenever I was bored or lonely, hehehe, I would just pull out his latest work. It's really just coincidence that I've memorized so much. My brain is like glue for ink."

_Jesus Christ, that didn't make any sense!!! You're about ready to drop. I'm gonna take over soon. Don't worry I'll get you home safe._

"I trust you.", Mika answered the Rokubi.

Kakashi turned to face you. "Huh? Well, uh. I trust you too." _Mostly….though I still have my own reservations._ "We're here."

"Where?" She swiveled about to take in surroundings that she couldn't see in the dark anyway.

"Your apartment. Come on. Where's your key?"

"Mmmmm…" She dug through her pockets. "I think this is it."

"It either is or it isn't." He stared at her, leaning against her door.

"Well, it's either the key to my apartment or the key to my heart. Sooooo….", Mika started to drift off to sleep.

He snatched it out of her hands. "Either way, it's mine." He unlocked the door and helped her inside. Not that she needed much help. She was completely unconscious, but her body seemed to have regained its composure. "Do you think you can manage getting to bed on your own?"

_Huh, you know, you might have been kinda right about him, Mika. He is awfully cute….hehe, what you don't know won't hurt you._

"Sure, I suppose I could go to bed alone. But I'd much rather you come with me.", Mika spoke in a sly tone.

Kakashi stared at her. _……maybe…no…well. _"Alright, I guess I'll help you then." The two of them walked to the bedroom, Mika leading him in. Some help right? "O.k. then. You're in here. So, I'm gonna go now. I'll see you in the morning."

"Oh no, don't go yet, sweetie." Mika pulled him back toward her, sliding his mask down in one quick motion and kissing him square on the lips. It was a long, rough, and heated kiss, before he broke away to catch his breath. "Stay the night. Please.", Mika urged him.

"I…uh..." She pulled him over to the bed and fell down on top of him. "Mika!", he sounded shocked. Though, whatever thought was actually going through his mind at the moment was anyone's guess. She kept kissing him.

"He-he, not Mika." She spoke between kisses.

"…Hana?" He was a bit confused while she began tugging at his vest.

"Ha-ha, not Hana."

He stared up at her for a few seconds with a puzzled almost resistant look. She let out a sigh.

"Oh fine. Ruin the moment." Mika brought her hand up from wherever it had disappeared to and snapped her fingers. Instantly a spark lit up the area immediately surrounding her face and hand. "There. You happy now?" Her hand was again like a claw and on her face were the black lightning shaped streaks that ran down the sides of her neck; her eyes completely glazed over in black haze.

"….oh." He still sounded upset, but he didn't push her off of him. Curious reaction if you think about it.

Mika crossed her arms. "Oh what? Like 'Oh I'm leaving' or 'Oh that's hot'?"

"Like 'Oh, you're not Sparky'." He pushed himself to sit up, Mika still on his lap.

"Well it's still her body. So what's the big deal?"

"Heh.", he took a moment to process this and ran his hand through his hair. "Well for starters, you're technically a kind of demonic presence. Also, it'd be like cheating on Mika and taking advantage of her at the same time. So, yeah…no."

"Oh please." Mika yawned from an insetting exhaustion. "You don't know the kind of thoughts about you that have gone through her mind. I have to deal with them every fucking day. If anything, I'd be fulfilling her fantasy."

"….what fantasy?"_ I can't believe that I'm even talking to this….this!_

She scoffed and then rubbed her eyes. "Wouldn't you have liked to find out?" She yawned again. Suddenly the bed looked incredibly inviting. "….oh damn it all." She crawled off of his lap and headed for under the covers. He helped tuck her in.

As he turned to walk out of the room Mika called after him. "Hey, uh, could you not mention this to Mika. She'll never let me live it down."

He glanced at her from the doorway and waved. "Don't ask, don't tell. I won't if you won't. I guess I'll see the two of you tomorrow." _Hn, wow. Talk about a split-personality._

"Yup. Tomorrow."

* * *

… **Well? I'll admit I was blushing the entire time I wrote this, but by the standard that Mika is a girl and the Rokubi is a boy, there really wasn't any yuri or yaoi in this chapter… are ya'll buying that? Cause it's what I use as an excuse to post fluff like this. Lol, Review!!!**


	37. Rape lol

**Jackie: WAHHHHH!!!! NOOOOOO!!! WHY! WHY! (tries to breathe) why!! AHHHHHH!!!! (continues crying to the point of annoyance)**

_Rokubi: My apologies to my fans. It seems that the author of this story finished reading the latest chapter of Naruto manga, chapter 423 to be exact. And she is now having a hysterical fit of anguish and pain over the possible loss. I won't spoil it for you if you don't read the manga, but… it's bad. But in my opinion, Jack is just being a whiny little brat that can't see an obvious cliffhanger when she sees it. There is no way Kishimoto would let what happened at the end of that chapter come true… at least if he doesn't want me to fly over to Japan and kick his ass for making me…err…Jack cry. Anyways, please to enjoy, __**my**__ next chapter! _

_And yes, I'm making a rape joke in this one! If ya' don't have a sense of humor, go out and buy one you cheap bastards!_

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Chapter 36: Rape… lol

The next morning did not find Mika in the best of states. She was sprawled under the blankets, turned facing the foot of her bed. All that could be seen of her was the mass of yellow that was her hair and her left arm that were both hanging off the edge of the mattress. She had been awake for an hour, but nothing on the face of the earth could have urged her to move even one inch. The one comfort that she had was the warmth of the covers, but even that was soon to be stripped of her… literally.

"Rise and shine, Sparky!" Kakashi pulled the covers clear off the bed in one quick motion, letting them land in a pile on the floor.

"….I was using those.", she mumbled.

"You've got 45 minutes before you need to be at the training grounds. Now come on, and get up."

"….Go to hell.", she again mumbled.

"You'll get there before me. In about thirty seconds I'd imagine." He walked to the side of the bed and picked her up.

"Where are you taking me?" She was limp in his arms.

"Well, you reek of alcohol and smoke from the bar last night. So you need to get cleaned up. And like I said, you only have 45 minutes." He set her down in the tub and stood up with his hand on the knob to turn the water on.

Mika looked up at him with a glare of contempt. "…You wouldn't dare."

"It's not like you have the energy to stop me." He turned the cold water on full blast as he disappeared from the room. She let out a shriek that probably sent half the town into a coma. Twenty minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. She was just about to go digging through her drawers to find some clean clothes, only to notice that it had already been taken care of for her. On the bed was a nicely folded set of clothes, including a rather choice pair of undergarments.

_Fucking pervert._

_Not as much as you think._

_What the fuck would you know? Huh? _

_Nothing, geez sorry I said anything. I forgot what a grouch you are in the morning._

_I'm fucking hung-over you asshole! Just piss off!_

…_.I'm sorry._

……_.fine. You're forgiven._

Mika got dressed, slipped on a pair of sunglasses and walked into the kitchen to find Kakashi reading through one of her notebooks and drinking water. He noticed she had walked in and handed her, her own glass of water with some aspirin. "Here, this will help."

"I want a cappuccino.", she spoke dryly.

"Water is good for you. You're dehydrated from last night." He pressed the glass toward her. Instead she swallowed the pills dry and just stared at the glass.

"I want a cappuccino."

"Coffee isn't the best thing for you right now. Drink the water."

Her cheeks rose like she was on the verge of growling. "Coffee tastes like crap. I want a French-Vanilla Cappuccino." She turned to the stove and put some water to boil.

He followed her and pushed the glass in front of her face again. "Drink the water."

"I hate water."

_By noon, I won't doubt it. _He seemed to snicker for no reason. "No you don't."

_What is so funny about me not liking water? _"It's poison."

"No it's not. Now drink the damn water."

"…damn?" She paused for a moment. "You've got a hang-over too don't you? Not as bad as me, but still."

"I'll be fine, because I drank some water." He motioned for her to take the glass.

She sighed and gulped it down. "I'm still gonna have my cappuccino." He shrugged his shoulders and sat back down at the kitchen table; turning his attention back to the notebook. Mika made her 'precious' cappuccino and joined him. "Which book is that?", she mumbled.

"I'm pretty sure it's not one of your books."

"I'm pretty sure it is. I own every book in this apartment."

He glanced up at her with an irk in his eye. "And I thought you were bad without a hang-over. No, I meant that this isn't one on your published or soon to be published works."

"Oh yea?", she inhaled the vapors that her hot drink radiated. She was 99 percent sure that it was pure caffeine energy and she didn't want to lose one ounce of it to the air around her.

"Yea, really depressing stuff in here. Dark stuff. Why do you have this?"

Mika set her drink down and motioned for him to give it to her. She glanced at the notebook for half a second before she recognized it and dropped it back on the table. "Hmm. Oh, I ended up pulling this out when that kid came to deliver my chapters to the publisher. This,", she poked the small book. "This here is more like a prose journal. I wrote everything in here, gosh I don't know, back when I was 15 or 16 maybe."

"You weren't happy as a teenager?"

"Were you? I don't think anyone had anything to be happy about back then."

"Yea….I guess you're right about that."

Mika stared at him across the table. "How did we get like this?"

"Like what exactly?"

"Fifteen years of absolutely no communication, and yet here we are chatting like nothing ever happened."

"It's nice isn't it?" He reached his hand across the table to her.

She reached back and took his hand. "…very."

-F.B-

It was a cool, brisk morning in the village. The wind was blowing softly yet consistently. The sun was up, but the clouds covered it completely; leaving the earth below shrouded in a cold, dull glow. Mika waited patiently in the field behind the memorial stone. The cold weather didn't bother her at all as she stood there in her usual thin long-sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts. It was one of the advantages of being 'special'. Whenever she got a slight chill, all she had to do was send a small current through her muscles. That would heat her up, right quick.

_Sigh, sometimes I wish Kakashi would hurry up. I wanna tell him all about what happened last night. _

_**He**__ had the right idea._

_Hm? _

_Something bad is coming, he was right to leave._

_Well… that's your opinion. Oh look here he comes! Hehe, his hair is so awesome. Like a gray spiky star emerging from the trees….as the moon rises from the dark of night….holy crap that's good I should write that down! _

The young girl pulled out a small notebook that she had taken to jotting down notes in recently. She had read every book in the library and out of boredom, thought that she would be like Jiraiya-sama and write her own book. She, like her brother, had loved his book about a hero named Naruto, and she decided that she could write something equally great.

Mika finished writing and put her notepad away just as Kakashi walked up to her. "How are they?", she asked.

"They're good."

"Good." The two of them started to walk back toward the center of town. On a cold day like this, almost no one was outside. It was kind of their thing, to walk around the village just to walk. "So, hey, did you hear about Orochimaru?"

"No, what about him?"

"He left."

"Like on a mission?"

"No, like, he's gone. He's abandoned the village. I couldn't believe it when I overheard Jiraiya-sama and Aniki talking. Jiraiya was all like 'I tried to stop him. He just wouldn't come back.' and Aniki was all like 'It's gonna be o.k.'. But if you think about it, it's really not going to be o.k. One of the Sannin just abandoned the village! You're not supposed to do that! How could he just leave all of us behind?"

"So this happened last night?"_I never really cared for that guy. He was always so…strange. I'm so glad that Minato-sensei kept him from Hana. _

"Well, Jiraiya got back and told my Ani at 2:32 this morning. And it's 7:41 right now."

_That was an irrelevant piece of information._

_You be quiet!_

"So depending on just how long it took Jiraiya to get back it could have happened last night or this morning."

"Hn."

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"What do you think about this?"

"What should I think about it?" Mika narrowed your gaze at him. "Oh fine. You really want to know what I think?"

"I asked didn't I?", she crossed her arms in a huff.

"Good riddance." Mika's jaw dropped and her eyes bugged out a bit. She tried to speak, probably to say something like 'How could you say that?', but the ability escaped her in her shock. "I have a good reason for saying that." She continued to stare in disbelief. "You're not the only one that hears a lot of privileged information. Ever since I joined ANBU I've found out a lot about him. He was doing bad things."

Mika straightened up and looked him in the eye. "What kind of 'bad things'?"

"Inhumane things and let's leave it at that."

The tone in his voice told her to drop the subject. She would respect this, the best way she knew how…to only slightly change the topic of discussion. "Well, his leaving has made me think of something else entirely."

"Hm?"

"What if I just left?"

He grabbed her wrist and stopped walking. "What do you mean? You're not going anywhere."

"Oh, your hand is cold." She grabbed both of his hands and warmed them the only way that would occur to her, electricity. She had a fairly good handle of how much will kill, paralyze, annoy, and just warm a person. "No, I didn't mean that I was going to leave like him. I meant that I want to see what's out there. I want to travel."

"You've been out on missions."

"Yea, but I've never been outside the Fire Country. You…", she started. "You've been all over the world and you're only two years older than me. Water, Grass, Snow, Sand….Am I missing any?"

"…Rice." He took his hands back and the two of them kept walking.

"You see what I mean? I just want to see the world, like you and Jiraiya-sama. I could go see Tsunade-hime. I've only met her once but I heard she was in the Bird Country and I'm sure that she would remember me. Then I could head west to Earth Country. And then—" Mika stopped short when she noticed his face. It was like he was completely tuning her out. "Hey!", she pushed him lightly to snap him back to attention.

"The world is too dangerous for you to just go traveling around. You're a Konoha shinobi and we are not exactly welcome everywhere."

"Well, then…..", she thought this over for a moment. "Why don't you come with me?"

"What? 'cough'…I mean, why not Minato-sensei? He is your brother."

"Eh." Mika shrugged her shoulders. "Kushina-hime is only a month away from being due. All he does nowadays is fuss over her. 'Kushina, Kushina, Kushina!' 'The Baby, the Baby, the Baby!' You're not tied down by a pregnant wife, like he is." Kakashi coughed again as she paused and made a quick flourish with her arms. "You see I got it all figured out now! I'm a chunnin and can basically take care of myself no matter what you say. But since you're an ANBU Captain you can come with and back me up on my travels. Keep the riff-raff at bay in such." She had a wide grin on her face.

"I'm not a captain." He scratched the back of his head.

Mika turned to look at him with a confused look before smacking herself in the head. "Oh! That's right! You don't get promoted until the week after next. Oops. Hehehe. I'm just full of secrets, eh?" She gave a sheepish smile.

"So I'm getting promoted?" He asked somewhat eagerly.

"Yeah. You're awesome, why wouldn't you be?"

"No reason." He was smiling under his mask. "So how did you find that out?"

"How do you think? Besides being a writer and a world traveler, I'm going to be a great spy!"

"You certainly have the credentials."

"I know right! I honestly don't think that anyone even knows that I listen in on a lot of Ani-sama's office meetings. I'm sure that all of those officials would get pissed if they knew they were being spied on by some little brat." She started to giggle. "I'm going to be the perfect triple threat of a kunoichi; Articulate, Cultured, and Deadly."

_Don't forget beautiful. All the best kunoichi are beautiful._, he thought to himself while watching her beam.

-End F.B.-

Mika took another sip of her drink before setting her head in her hands as she looked across the table.

"What's with the shades?", he asked.

"Hn. You really wanna know?

"I asked, didn't I?" He rubbed his eye. A headache is a headache no matter how acute or severe.

"Well, aren't we touchy this morning? Fine, I'll show you." She slid the pair of sunglasses up to her forehead. Her eyes weren't completely black, like they were when she completely lost control. Instead just the whites of her eyes were black, leaving the blue irises to shine brightly against the dark background. "Well?"

He stared at her a moment. _…who am I looking at? _"Uh, who am I talking to?"

She put the glasses back in their intended place. "…me? Who else would you be talking to?" She lazily glanced around the room.

"No one I guess. Why are your eyes like that?"

Mika shrugged her shoulders. "If there was an explanation for everything in life, wouldn't it get really boring?"

"So you don't know?"

_Grrrr…. I'm not stupid or anything. ……Rokubi? You gonna ream me for being stupid? Hello? _

…_.yeah, I'm here._

_Why don't you answer me? _

_As it turns out, I'm just as hung-over as you, so could you please not shout at me anymore._

_Hn, fine._

"No….I don't know."

"Alright, well,", he looked at the clock on the wall. "We better get going. Your bag is on the couch with all the usual stuff you pack plus that sword handle you bought."

"Gee thanks. I never had a butler before." Mika downed the rest of her cappuccino, mildly burning her tongue, and grabbed her bag before following him out the door.

Halfway to the meeting place Mika broke the silence. "I'm sorry I'm acting like so grouchy." She smacked herself in the head, lightly. "I feel horrible and, oh god, so embarrassed about what happened last night."

He threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "So you remember all of that, eh?"

"Right up until I passed out at my front door." She looked up at him, "Thanks for getting me home safely."

"Thank you, for an interesting evening." _Seriously, between that lesbian make-out session and being dragged into a bed by a drunk, possessed Mika; it was a very interesting night._ He began to chuckle again.

"God, if I never see Anko again, it will be too soon."

"I guess it's gonna be too soon."

"What do you mean?"

"You invited everyone and their mother to come see this fight. Somehow I don't think that she is as embarrassed about last night as you are and she's probably going to show up."

"I only invited the people involved to bring a few friends." She glared at him through her sunglasses. "Did you---"

"Yes."

Mika let out a groan. "Great, this is just what I need right now. An audience for me at my worst. Bah!"

He laughed. "Did you just say 'bah'?"

"….yes, yes I did. You got a problem with that?" Mika couldn't help but laugh at herself there. She ended her strained laughter with an exaggerated sigh, before reaching into her bag to pull out some water. He was right; she was dehydrated and very thirsty.

Ten minutes later, the training grounds were in sight and it was apparent that the two of them were the last to arrive. Of the people Mika recognized, there was: Kiba/Akamaru, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Shino, TenTen, Lee, Gai, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, Yamato, Kotetsu, Izumo, Genma, Iruka, and Anko. Everyone was talking and chatting away. There were also several others that she didn't recognize, but all were ninja; not one civilian, thank god. Again let me reiterate, Mika hates Konoha civilians.

She took a deep breath, "Here goes nothing."

"Good Morning, Mika!" Jiraiya obnoxiously shouted just three feet from her general direction.

"Buenos Dias, Viejo.", she spoke softly and with a sweet smile. It was easy to fake since she had sunglasses hiding her 'I'm miserable and don't wanna be here/demonesque' eyes.

He was giggling like a little boy who had a secret or rather a dirty old man who had some gossip. "So, I heard you had an interesting evening. Wish I had been there!"

The sweet smile faded just as fast as it had appeared. "….you shouldn't joke about rape."

"Huh?!?!", he had a very concerned look on his face. Kakashi started to laugh and cover his eye with his hand.

"You shouldn't even be laughing." Mika quietly explained. "You sat there and let it happen; you're just as bad as the rapist."

"……….rape….", he managed to whisper through his stifled laughter.

"What am I missing here? I thought you said all that happened was that she and Anko made-out. What really happened last night, Kakashi?" Jiraiya was stuck somewhere between confused, excited, and upset. It was funny to watch his squirm.

Still in a quiet tone Mika continued, "Wait, what? You told Jiraiya? What the hell man? Do you tell him everything? What? Are you two like little gossip buddies or something? Or is he just trying to live vicariously though you?"

Kakashi griped Mika's good shoulder and stopped himself from laughing. "…the last one…", he spat out before another brief laugh and then clearing his throat. He turned to Jiraiya, who was still squirming. "Nothing bad happened." He explained, waving his hand in front of himself.

"Define bad.", Mika interrupted. "That whore frickin' raped my mouth. And now that I think about it, she probably groped me and I was too drunk to notice……..uggghhhhh!" A shiver ran down her spine. "I don't think that I have ever felt so violated, ever." She shook her head and looked away.

"Oh, well thank god." Jiraiya sighed with relief before turning to face Mika expectantly. "Soooo…."

"….what?", she asked as she turned her attention back to the small group.

"I also heard that it was awfully similar to a certain chapter in my book. Which one was it again?"

She rolled her unseen eyes. "How the fuck should I know? I don't read your crap." She looked around for Naruto and spotted him standing with Tsunade and Shizune. "Let's hurry up and get this thing over with." She walked over toward her fellow blondes, Shizune excepted.

"Not cool, Jiraiya-sama." Kakashi looked at him with a worrisome eye.

"What? You said that she loves my writing."

"It was a drunken confession. Do you honestly think that she would admit that out loud to anyone?"

"Hey Kakashi-sensei! Whatcha talking to the Pervy Sage about, huh?" Naruto bounded over to where the two of them were standing.

"Why do you get the term of respect and I get called a perverted sage?" Jiraiya seemed slightly agitated. Kakashi just shrugged his shoulders. "What do you want kid? Weren't you talking to Tsunade?"

"I was, but stupid, loser aunt-Mika kicked me out she said that I couldn't stand with them because I was wearing orange. What's up with that?!"

"Hehe, she's probably just irritable because of what happened last night." Jiraiya's sly look came back.

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"Nothing happened." Kakashi interrupted. "Did you bring that thing that I gave you?"

"Oh yeah. Of course. Here it is." Naruto pulled the small, wrapped object out of his pocket.

"Good, now put it away. We don't want her seeing it."

No sooner had Naruto completely hidden his only hope in defeating his aunt did she turn around and yell at him. "Oye! Naruto! You can't stand there either!"

"Why!", he shouted back.

"Because you don't have 'old-man' hair! Now get your ass away from them!" Naruto grumbled and started to slump away from the two 'old-men', while Mika snickered and turned back to continue talking to Tsunade.

Jiraiya turned to Kakashi. "What did you give Naruto?"

"An ace for his sleeve."

"Huh?"

"You'll see."

-Back to Mika-after she yelled at Naruto-

"Now where was I?"

Tsunade smugly crossed her arms. "You wanted to make sure that we both understand the terms of the bet."

"Ah, yes.", Mika tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Now then, if I win, no matter what, I will teach him and not return to my duties as a ninja here."

"But should you for some completely 'unexpected' reason lose," she continued Mika's statement for her, "you will resume your responsibilities here."

"And still teach Naruto.", Shizune added.

"Of course. If I can help him in any way, I will." She looked up to see Naruto now standing with Sakura and some of the other kids. She laughed lightly to herself. "Oye! Naruto!"

He swiveled around with an angry look on his face. "What?!? Can I not stand here either?!?!"

"No, dumbass! You ready?"

"Huh? OH YEAH!!"

"Good, let's go.", she motioned for him to follow her out toward the field. _This is gonna be fun. _

_Hehehe, your damn right it is!_

* * *

_Rokubi: So, how did ya'll like it? I know, I know. I'm totally kick-ass in all but I really must know, in order to try and calm down the panic-stricken Jackie, if this chapter was remotely entertaining. Review for me or I'll electrocute you!!!_


	38. D Day

**Woot! Fight Night! Or Fight Day, cause it's daytime in the story… but it doesn't sound as cool.**

* * *

Chapter 37: D-Day

"Here, Gai." Mika handed him a stopwatch. "Could you keep time?"

"Sure." He took the watch and then looked her in the eye. "What's with the sunglasses? It's kind of cloudy this morning."

She sighed. "Conditions dictate. I'd hate to upset anyone." He stared at her. "…you'll see."

Mika pulled the sword handle that she bought out of her bag and tossed the bag back to Sakura, who almost didn't realize that Mika was going to throw it at her. She managed to catch it and set it down on the ground before rejoining the crowd to watch, what was fast becoming, the fight of the century.

"Come on kid." Mika called out to Naruto as she walked out to the field. He was following her in a proud, smug manner. She reached the center of field and turned to look back at him. He wasn't there. All she saw was the crowd of ninja standing carefully at the edge of the forest, careful to not fall into the range of any possible overflow of attacks. From the corners of her eyes she could see Naruto, two of them to be exact. One was to the right, the other to the left. "I guess it's safe to assume there's another one of you behind me." She heard a confident snicker come from no more than a foot behind her. She sighed with a deep breath. "Well, are you gonna attack me or not? The timer is running."

The clones charged. Mika let the first one knock her forward, landing her on her hands. A quick kick and the first one was flying forward toward the crowd hitting the ground and dissolving into a puff of smoke, follow that with a split in the air and the other two received sufficient head trauma to poof into smoke as well. I guess Gai's training helped a lot after all.

She stood back up on her feet only to see that she was surrounded by hundreds of Narutos. Or is it Naruto's? "So those three were just a distraction I take it?"

"You better Believe It!" The mass shouted and looked about ready to charge.

Mika threw the sword handle in to the ground. It stayed upright. "You didn't take any time to prepare for this did you?"

"What do you mean!"

The calm, hung-over blonde shook her head and slowly reached for her sunglasses. "What was the first thing that I told you about shadow clones?" Silence. "They are impressive but not very efficient for a combat situation."

"I'll show you 'not very efficient'!" They all jumped in the air in an apparent effort to crush her to the ground. In that same instant she dropped her glasses to the ground and opened her eyes. Mika could see the shock on his several faces, though they were already in the air and unable to stop their attack. Her eyes were still mostly black and looked quite feral.

From the crowd's point of view, there was now a mountain of Naruto's in the middle of field. And from the middle of the pile was a small glow of light. Slowly a sound similar to that of crackling aluminum foil grew louder and louder.

"What's going on in there?" Sakura asked no one in particular.

"Electrocution." Kakashi answered her. He subtlety shuddered at the memory of his own electrocution. _Naruto is never going to forget this._

"Hinata." Neji turned to his cousin.

"Yes." She quietly answered.

"Look under the ground at the center of that." He pointed out to the field. "There is a massive amount of heat for some reason."

"Yes," she answered. "But the top soil isn't the slightest bit heated. Like its being shielded or something. What do you think it is?"

"Twenty bucks says it's Mika." Kiba butted into the conversation.

Neji scoffed. "Well it's a safe bet that it's not Naruto."

There was a quick flash of yellow/white light and in the center of the remaining smoke, Mika stood; one electrified tail slowly flickering behind her. She stood somewhat casually with her hands in her pockets, though that was the only casual thing about her at the moment. As it was before in Kumo, her canine teeth appeared slightly lengthened and she had black streaks running down the sides of her face; the only difference is that she retained the blue irises of her eyes. She retained control.

"Naruto." Mika glanced over at the only standing and existing version of him. Standing might have been a stretch. He was more or less wavering from side to side with one of his eyes twitching. "Clones aren't going to cut it. If you want to win here, you're going to have to come at me like you were going to kill me."

"…I-I feel numb." He muttered softly.

Mika turned her head slightly. _….damn it. I went too hard on him, didn't I?_ She sighed. "Naruto come here." She walked forward and reached out to hold him. "I'm sorry, that was too much wasn't it." He didn't answer her. "It's fine really. I'm surprised you're still conscious. You know not even your own teacher couldn't take a shock like that."

"You electrocuted Jiraiya?" He clearly spoke.

"No, your teacher. Kakashi." Mika pushed him away from her chest; though he was still holding her arms. "Wait, what? Jiraiya is you teacher?"

"Only for the last 2 ½ years." He smiled evilly.

So many different thoughts went through her mind at that moment. _1. That is horrible! My poor nephew has been exposed to that disgusting, perverted old man for 2 ½ years! 2. That is positively wonderful! He is so lucky to have had the same teacher as his dad! I know that Jiraiya must love Naruto like a grandson! _Then a third thought went through her mind, one that she took the time to speak out loud. "You're speaking clearly…. You're griping my arms….You're not numb."

"Hehe, nope."

Mik jerked her arms but he had a death grip on her, holding her securely in place. "Damn it let go!"

"NO!"

"Fine!" Visible bolts ran down her arms to him, giving him more than a good shock. He twitched for a moment and then poofed into smoke. "What the f—" She swiveled around to see two Narutos with a Rasengan coming at her. She couldn't avoid it and it made direct contact right under her ribcage.

"HOLY CRAP! DID YOU SEE THAT?" Kotetsu shouted in the crowd.

"MORE IMPORTANTLY, DO YOU SEE WHERE SHE'S HEADED!?!?!" Genma ran for cover as everyone else around him followed suit.

Mika went flying straight back toward the trees. But just before possibly tumbling at a high rate of speed into the crowd, she kicked her foot down adjusting the trajectory and allowing her to gracefully land in a crouching position on a low branch. She coughed a few times and dug her claws into the tree to steady herself as she stood up. Most everyone was staring in awe of the sight. "You.", Mika pointed at Jiraiya.

"Who me?" He looked up at her.

"Naruto spent the last 2 years with you? That-that's just not…right! Just how much did you screw him up?"

"I didn't screw him up! You just underestimated how strong his is!"

"…that's not what I meant you perverted old man. 'sigh' Never mind." Mika placed her hand where Naruto had attacked. She could feel the jagged shards of diamond. He had broken her armor. _I can't believe that he actually broke my armor! _Fortunately that's all he did. If he had put anymore power into it, he might have caused real damage.

"How the hell did you survive that!?" Kiba shouted up at her.

She grinned with her canine teeth showing. "Two reasons puppy. One.", she took the shards from her stomach and let them sprinkle down unto the ground. "And two is just luck."

Naruto shouted from the field, "Did I win!?! Did you fall down?!?"

"Not Quite!", Mika shouted back.

"THEN GET BACK OUT HERE AND LET ME KICK YOUR ASS!!!"

"Cocky little bastard.", she mumbled under her breath. "Hey, how're we doing on time, Gai?"

"Six more minutes."

Mika nodded her head. _I can do six more minutes.__ Sure we can._ "Alright, then." She took a deep breath and jumped down from the tree. A second tail had formed since she first landed on the tree. Everything that she had touched was scorched by the current running through her body. From the tree down to the trail of burned grass that she was leaving as she walked back out to meet Naruto.

Kakashi noticed this and called out to her. "Hey could you tell Naruto that he can end the fight now?"

"Sure thing sweetie." Mika waved her left hand casually behind her. _Wait. I didn't say that._ She stopped walking and stared at her raised hand. _What the fuck. Sweetie? _

……_._

_Rokubi? _

…_.o.k. look, just listen to me kay? All I did just now was answer him. I swear nothing happened._

Mika turned around and looked back at Kakashi. "Who's 'sweetie'?"

There was at least 15 seconds of silence. "I swear nothing happened." He answered her, not showing a hint of emotion.

_You see, listen to me, nothing happened._ Mika squinted her eyes slightly as the Rokubi spoke to her.

Kakashi picked up on this as well. "Don't listen to a word it says. I swear nothing happened."

_'sigh' I don't have time for this._ "The three of us are going to have a short talk later." Mika huffed and walked back out onto the field growling.

"…freak." Anko spoke briefly.

Kakashi glared at her for a moment before returning his attention back to the fight. _I can't win for losing can I?_

"Alright, Naru-tard. How about we use some grown up toys?"

"Ewww! You're disgusting, Aunt Mika!"

She glared at him with a slack jaw. "What the fuck do you think I'm talking about?" She reached down and picked up the sword handle that she had stuck into the ground. It had a deep lustrous black blade attached to it. "This here is a titanium, onyx, and", she sent some electricity down the blade to make parts of it shine. "diamond alloy. My own special cocktail. It takes a while to form, but I'll be damned if it ain't worth it." She beamed with pride at her handiwork. "So are you ready to end this fight or what? You don't have much time left." I'm not a geology major, but that combination sounded cool though highly improbable.

"So it's time for me to end the fight, huh?"

"That's what your real teacher said. Not that 'other' one."

Naruto nodded his head slowly. "Oh." _Kakashi-sensei is right. Look at her. She's all….spiky? No. How do you describe it?_ _She's all electrocute-ly? _

Mika sighed and leaned against the sword that she had partially stuck back in the ground. _This kid doesn't know how to think and move at the same time, does he? __Heh, he's your blood relative.__ Shut up._ Mika stomped her foot on the ground and up shot several pieces of random, sharp stones, all of which went flying in her nephew's direction.

"Ahhhh!", he shouted as he barely leapt out of the way.

"Get serious! You're almost out of time." Mika shouted and then grumbled to herself, "Fucking retarded boy made me make my super cool sword for no reason."

"Fine!" He yelled back. "Aunt Mika's gonna regret yelling at me so much. Hehehe.", he talked quietly to himself. He threw every last kunai, shuriken, and cup of instant ramen, which he carried for whatever reason, at her.

She pulled out her sword and lazily blocked everything that came her way. When the flurry of weapons and dried food stopped she noticed that he was no longer in front of her.

"Forfeit and I won't end this fight like this." Naruto spoke from behind her.

Mika sighed, once again, and turned around to see him standing behind her. He was just out of the reach of her sword with his hands outstretched in front of him pointing a small water gun at her. Mika's eyes slowly doubled in size as she realized the situation. Here she was, a very electrically charged individual and there in front of her with his finger on the trigger of a squirt gun, was the most unpredictable, knucklehead ninja in history.

_Fuck, you're screwed._

_We're screwed. We._

"…GAI!", she frantically yelled.

"Huh? Uh, yes!", he answered her.

"How much time is left!?!"

"Uh…45 seconds!"

"Naruto.", she spoke softly. "Oi-kun.", she called sweetly. "Mon cher.", she cooed gently. "You really don't want to do this."

"Give up, oba-chan, and I promise I won't."

Mika answered his through gritted teeth. "I can't do that."

"Then I have to do this." He pulled the trigger and a small squirt of water shot out at her.

She gasped and raised her hand in a last instinctual reaction to try and stop the water. It struck her hand and there was a loud POP. It was a sound similar to when a firecracker is set off or when the circuit breaker goes off.

"…ah.", she quietly whispered as her eyes and face both lost their blackened traits and the flashing tails of the Rokubi faded away quickly. She fell straight back onto the ground with a thud.

She could only pray to fall out of consciousness, but instead she was completely aware of where she was, and what how she got there. A few moments later she felt someone lifting her up against their chest.

"How do you feel?" Kakashi asked her as he brushed back a few rogue strands of hair that were in her face. "Wait, let me guess. Like every muscle in your body just spazzed out and then there was this burning sensation and then just your general run of the mill pain."

"…revenge?", she quietly whispered with a questioning look on her face. _I only ever shocked him once when we were kids. Once!_

"And winning.", he smiled at her through his mask.

She leaned back against his chest and looked around the crowd that was standing around. Naruto was the first to jump in front of her.

"Oba-chan! You're alive!" He smiled happily.

Mika raised her eyebrows at him in shock. "If you didn't think that I would survive, then why the hell did you do it?"

"Uh… cause Kakashi-sensei told me to."

"Ugh..." Her eyes caught sight of the squirt gun. "Let me see that." She feebly reached for it. He handed it to her. She quickly squirted him and then looked back at the gun.

"Ack, what was that for?", he wiped the water from his face.

"Gee, let me think…", she sarcastically answered. "I've seen this gun before."

"No you haven't." Kakashi plucked it from her hands.

Seeing it in his hands now, it came back to her. "You bastard.", she accused him breathlessly. "That's yours. You got me with it a few days ago. You bastard, why would you give it to Naruto?"

"He's a kid and kids play with toys." He shrugged his shoulders.

"…heh, toys…ugh, no. no, no, no." Mika looked up at Jiraiya who was standing over her. "You ruined him."

"Huh?" The sannin stared down at her from his height.

"You ruined my nephew. You've twisted his mind. You bad, bad person."

"Ugh, whatever. You're delusional. I haven't done anything wrong."

"Mika.", Tsunade smiled down at her from the other side. "Do you remember our bet?"

The quick blonde shook her head back and forth. "…No. I'm afraid that I have too much brain damage and that I cannot recall whatever bet you are referring to." She just smiled and shook her head back and forth in return. Mika felt Kakashi reach around her throat and start to tie her old headband around her. "Hey, no.", she reached back and tried to scratch his face.

"Stop it, behave." He pushed her arms away and finished what he was doing.

"Grrrrr…." Mika scratched at her neck like a cat that is not used to wearing a collar.

"Did you just growl at me?"

"It runs in the family."

Tsunade reached down and patted her on the head. "Welcome back Ms. Namikaze. I'll expect you in my office tomorrow morning." She turned to leave when a particularly annoying voice called out in protest.

"Hokage-sama!" Anko yelled. "She ran away and abandoned our village and you are going to just reinstate her! She should be in prison!"

"Yes, she should. Only thing is, I've pardoned her. So that's that." Tsunade glared down Anko, who reluctantly backed off.

Anko turned to face Mika on the ground. "I'll be keeping a close eye on you."

"You know I only went along with it because I was drunk." She started, "If you're gonna get all clingy, then I'm just gonna have to have a full-time bodyguard to enforce a restraining order." She turned her head to face Kakashi more. "You interested in the job?" He nodded and leaned his face against hers.

Anko became flustered. "I-I wasn't talking about that, you freak!" She stormed off.

"Do you think you can stand?" Kakashi motioned for Mika to stand up.

"Yea." She wiggled her toes just to check.

Most of the crowd had wandered off. Half of them amazed that Naruto won, the other half amazed that half of them were still amazed by Naruto winning. He always seems to win, what's there to be amazed about?

Mika was walking back to the village with Kakashi's help, when Naruto jumped in front of her. "Mika-chan?"

"Yea."

"What bet?"

"…" _hehe …_ "Uh…oh what the hell. Naruto, your, well now 'our', Hokage made a bet with me. If you succeeded in this test, I would have to be a ninja again. If you lost, then I wouldn't have to. It's as simple as that."

"So you're not a writer anymore?"

"Nah, I'm still a writer too. I've yet to finish my last book." She sheepishly smiled.

"You were already paid in advance for your book weren't you?"

Mika was surprised that he would guess that. "Huh? How did you know?"

"Pervy Sage makes that same face when he's already spent the money that the book company gave him, and he hadn't even started writing."

She stared at him blankly for half of a second. "Goodbye Naruto." She pushed past him, pulling Kakashi with her. "I'm kinda hungry. What are you going to feed me?"

"Shrimp."

"No."

"Calamari."

"No."

"Sushi."

"No.", she answered now completely irritated. He started again but she cut him off. "If it comes from any form of water, it's gonna be a no."

"Alright then, how about we go to that little citrus grove of ours?"

Mika fought desperately to wipe the blushing smile off of her face, but failed. "To celebrate my loss?"

"To celebrate my victory."

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**Of course Naruto won! Come on, Mika's not some stupid Mary-Jane; but Naruto kinda is, lol! Review! Share the love (or hate?)!**


	39. Falling Action

**Hi ya'll! It's been awhile, eh? And by 'awhile' I mean a few days… lol. How was ya'll's Halloween? Mine could have been better. No alcohol, no Ouija board, and Saw V sucks… sorry to spoil it for my fellow sadists out there if they haven't seen it yet. About this chapter… yea, I never liked it. It was so awkward and if I weren't so lazy I would probably work harder to make it flow better… who knows, I might yet make more changes to it and repost it later. But until that unset date, ya'll will just have to deal with this. :) Hope it's not too horrible.**

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Chapter 38: Falling Action

"So that's how it gonna be huh?", Mika mumbled with a pout.

"Yea."

She and Kakashi were in their secret little citrus grove. It was as lush and inviting as ever, especially with the rays of the setting sun delicately cutting through the branches. The two of them had spent the entire day out there. Talking, laughing…kissing, but oddly enough, nothing more. A nearby brook bubbled as she pressed her hands down on his chest, sitting on top of his lower waist. Mika shifted her weight between her two hands and looked at him with a sad face.

"Aw, come on. No one will see. We're completely hidden."

Holding her thighs, he laughed. "No means no, Sparky."

She let out a frustrated groan before sending him a mean glare and snatching his precious book from his vest pocket. The mildly irritated blonde began randomly flipping through the pages and shaking the book upside down.

"What are you doing to my book?" He desperately tried to take it back from her.

Mika only raised it higher, just out of his reach, and continued her investigation of the book. "Yup, I knew it."

"Knew what? Give it back." Kakashi tried to launch himself higher to reach, but with Mika's heavier than most physique pinning him to the ground, it was a fruitless effort.

"This isn't an Icha Icha book. It's full of crosswords, word searches, and Sudoku puzzles." She held the book close to her chest. "It's just further evidence that you're not a pervert. You just like to make people think that you are. And in all honesty, it's a disappointment."

"That book is a first edition signed by the author. Don't hurt it." He stared up at the book with puppy dog eyes and then added looking at her, "And, I am to a pervert. I'm a really really big pervert!"

"Oooo, please tell me you're bragging about something." The blonde giggled playfully.

He gripped her thighs and flipped her over onto her back. Staring down at her in the face he answered, "Even if I was, it only makes you a pervert for catching it." He took back his book.

"I am not! But even if I was, there is nothing wrong with being a pervert." Mika reached up and started to pull off his mask.

Bopping her lightly on the forehead with his book, he stopped her. "It's still a no." He rolled off to the side, leaving her lying down staring up at the treetops.

"What a tease… o.k. Fine, whatever. Since you've shot down yet another idea of mine, how about we have our little talk?"

He was lying next to her, also taking in the scene of greenery above them; that was now beginning to get quite dim. "Not that I don't want to talk, but what 'little talk' are you referring to?", he hoped beyond hope that she wasn't referring to last night.

"Oh you know exactly the 'talk' I'm talking about. The one that is causing the Rokubi to shout profanities nonstop in my head, all of which are directed to you."

_That's right you son of a bitch! If you say one word, I'll slit your throat while you sleep!!!_

_Would shut up already? I get it, you're pissed. You do realize that I'm the only one who can hear you, right?_

The silver-haired man sat up and turned to face her, still lying on the ground. "Well…what did you want to know?"

"Did I pass out at my front door?"

"No." He answered her unashamedly.

The Rokubi let out another flurry of insults that caused Mika to pause for a moment to try to clear her head. _Stop it! Christ! Just tell me yourself if you're so fucking upset over it! _

_FINE!!! I hit on him, o.k.!! It was weird and we made it to the bed and I completely regret it!_

……_huh? Oh god…_

Mika slowly raised her hands to cover her face while she shook it back and forth mumbling 'dear lord' and 'oh my god'.

"Mika." Kakashi poked her left temple twice to get her attention. "Are you o.k.?"

The blonde turned her head and stared at him with one eye, peeking between her fingers. "I am so sorry that he did that to you. I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed."

"It's fine. Nothing actually—wait…did you say 'he'?" He fixed his gaze on her mouth like he couldn't believe what she had just said. _I'm not that effeminate, am I? I mean, after Mika thinking Anko was me…and now this?_ He was having issues with his own gender identity.

"Yeah I did. It's a 'he'."

"Wait a sec. So, it's gay?"

_I am not fucking gay! I had a moment of weakness and nothing more. I do not like men!_

Mika giggled nervously. "I wouldn't call it that. I think he's really just gender confused. Provided it's energy with a consciousness that is used to the male prospective, and yet I am the first host that it has had that is a woman. I guess I'm more secure in my orientation than he is."

"Are you sure?" He raised an eyebrow at her knowingly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" The girl stretched her arms out and used them to prop up her head some.

"Well, the other night—"

Instantly she frowned and shot a finger out to point at his face. "No, don't even go there. That was an abnormal instance that will never happen again."

"O.k., o.k.", he raised his hands slowly in defeat. It was now dark out and the first stars were starting to appear. "It's late, we should go now." Kakashi stood up, offering his hand down to her.

Mika was looking up, but not at him. Rather, she was looking at the first flickering stars. "Nah, you can go if you want. I think I'm going to spend the night here. It's just so beautiful."

"It gets kinda cold out here. You don't have a fire or a blanket or anything."

Smiling, she reached up and took his still extended hand. She sent a low current through her arm that softly warmed his hand. "Since when have I ever needed any of those things?"

"True." He smiled slightly and sighed. "Well, I can't just leave you out here all alone. There might be wolves or something." Mika gave a slightly puzzled look. He sat back down, up against a tree and pulled her up onto his lap. "I keep you safe, you keep me warm?"

"Deal." She snuggled up against his chest, the pair completely content with where they were at that exact moment.

_Wow…this is too perfect. _

_Eh, it's not bad I guess._

_I should give it a try shouldn't I? _

_Huh?_

_You know, like I should be more positive. Who knows, maybe I won't die and nothing bad will happen. For a while at least, right? Eventually I'm going to have to sort out the whole Akatsuki situation. But that can wait for now. _

_Sure why not….I like you better as an optimist._

"Hey.", Mika leaned back and whispered into Kakashi's ear.

He held her tighter. "Hmm."

"Guess what."

"Hmm."

"I'm going to stay here for as long as I can. I don't think that fate could come up with a good enough reason for me to leave."

"….good." There was a brief moment of silence. _Interesting choice of words… but o.k._ "So does this mean that you're going to tell me about that bird and anything else you're hiding?"

"…I have no idea what you're talking about.", Mika yawned and wiggled around a bit. "Goodnight."

_Liar._

_It's compulsive. When fate makes me tell my story...I will. _

_You are really going to piss fate off if you keep acting like that._

-Next Morning-

Mika woke up pretty early and decided to run home real quick before meeting Tsunade. Very gingerly she crawled off from where she had slept.

"Morning.", She whispered quietly into his ear.

All her sweet greeting got in return was a mumbled, 'mmmph' as she stood up.

_Hehe, still not a morning person, eh? _"I'll see you later, bye." Mika decided to run home and have that constitute her exercise for the day. After cleaning up and eating half of an apple, her headed off to meet Tsunade in her office.

"Ah, it's about time you showed up!" Tsunade greeted the early bird blonde. Clearly she already had her morning coffee. It was sitting on her desk, still steaming.

"Uh, yea-er-yes, Hokage-sama." Mika fidgeted a bit and messed with her collar, -er- hitai-ate.

"Oh quit your fussing already. You're a kunoichi dammit! Act like one."

"Sorry, Hokage-sama." The Jinchuuriki quickly straightened up, though the obviously uncomfortable look still remained in her eye.

"Alright then. Let's see. What was it that I wanted to tell you?" She tapped her chin. The damn woman was acting all haughty over her victory yesterday. "Ah, yes…you are clearly no longer of chunnin rank. Anyone could see that after yesterday's little performance. So, effective immediately you are of jounin rank. Is that o.k. with you?" Again she was gloating in her usual snarky way.

"Of course, Hokage-sama. But I could care less about my rank. I'm really more interested in my assignment." Mika stepped forward and leaned across the Hokage's desk.

"Well, you'll be training Naruto of course, at least for now. He tends to be a quick learner and I could use all ninja of your level of strength and higher out on missions."

_Fuck, I don't wanna go out on missions…'sigh', oh well. It was bound to happen eventually, I suppose. _"Hokage-sama…"

"Hmm.", she looked at Mika expectantly.

"I think that I should make you aware of the fact that I won't be able to teach Naruto how to 'control' the nine-tails."

Her stare slowly went from happy and full of herself to irked and pissed off. "Explain.", she commanded.

Mika stood back up straight and took a deep breath. "I don't even control the Rokubi. It's a free living spirit. All I can do it channel it's abilities for my own uses. It's impossible to 'control' a bijuu. The only thing that I can teach Naruto is how to stop the Kyuubi from controlling him. If he can manage that then maybe, and I mean maybe, he could learn to channel the flow of the nine-tail's chakra like me……I just don't want you, him, or anyone else to get their hopes up. It's just a strong personality and luck that I'm able to do the things that I can."

"…Somehow I doubt that. I think it's entirely your strength that allows you to retain control. And I believe that Naruto has that same strength in him. In fact, I'm sure that it runs in the family."

Mika looked at her with dull and unchanging eyes. "You certainly have a lot of faith in him."

_Things like this just don't happen overnight._

…_I don't know, you heard her. It runs in the family._

"I have my reasons. I'm sure you will too, eventually."

Mika coughed lightly to get off the topic of inner strength and mushy things. "Well, do I have a time limit on my training of him?"

The Hokage took out a small white bottle and began to pour it into her coffee. "Eh…we'll play this one by ear. You teach at whatever speed you think he can handle. Though, sooner rather than later would make for a good completion date. You know how things are right now." Mika nodded her head in understanding. "Oh and one last thing, Ms. Namikaze", she began. "I'll want updates on his progress. The elder's are becoming more and more concerned with Naruto and now you, because of Akatsuki's recent bold actions. They're afraid that the two of you together will make too tempting a target."

"I wouldn't worry about it if I were you." Mika answered her in a monotone voice.

_Madara knows what I am capable of, plus he's smart enough to not take on two Jinchuuriki at the same time. I don't think that I can honor my arrangement with him any longer. _

_Whoa now! Madara is scary! You don't want to cross someone like him._

_No. I don't care about his power or his agenda anymore. He should have taken me back with him earlier and just killed me ahead of schedule, back when I still had it in my head that, that was my destiny. Instead he wanted to play games with me and send me off to Konoha. The fact that Naruto is family supersedes any deal that I ever made with that bastard. Protecting Naruto is now my top priority, even if it means defying Madara-sensei. _

…_.Jesus Christ, you've gone off the deep end, haven't you? Madara is plenty enough reason to be afraid, but it's not just him. It's that freaky Rinnegan kid, and all of Akatsuki._

_What's left of it, you mean? They're just men, not gods. Even the immortal one, Hidan, has been disposed of. I've made up my mind. There is hope and I refuse to let go of it. _

_But—_

_Shut up. I'm not going to argue with you about this._

"Why's that?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow at her oddly assuring comment.

The confident blonde looked at her with a cool and emotionless face. "When you worry about your problems, they tend to get worse. So I wouldn't worry about it." _Damn, I'm good._

"But it's just as bad if you ignore your problems altogether."

"Of course, Hokage-sama.", she bowed her head curtly.

"Alright then, that's all. You can leave now."

"Yes, ma'am.", Mika turned and walked toward the door only to be pushed aside by an ever scurrying about Shizune. Sakura followed behind her, carrying stacks of papers, books, and scrolls.

"Good morning, Mika-chan." Sakura cheerfully greeted her. Shizune seemed to not care that she was there, for her it's all work, work, work. She was scolding Tsunade for getting behind on her paperwork yet again. Just wait till she notices that she's been spiking her coffee.

Mika smiled sweetly, despite being pushed rudely to the side by Shizune. "Morning, Sakura. Do you know where my nephew is?"

"Um yeah. He's just outside the door there. I assumed he was waiting for you."

"Oh?" She cracked the door open slightly to see him pacing back and forth. "Well, I guess I better not keep him waiting any longer." She slipped out the door and caught his gaze. "…you hungry?" He smiled and the two of them took off to Ichiraku.

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**So? What's the damage? I'm pretty much loving all the reviews I've been getting, so keep 'em coming!**


	40. Generic Day 1 of 14

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Yawn, I'm going to bed after this posting. Figured I should at least put up one more chapter… god damn frickin late night txt messages. I'm not even kidding, as I'm writing this I'm reading that I need to stay up even later to help a friend with a speech outline. 'sigh', if he wasn't a good friend I think I would just ignore it and claim ignorance when tomorrow comes and he doesn't have it done. Well, hope ya'll appreciate this next chapter. It was hard as hell to save cause my USB drive doesn't get along with my Word program.

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Chapter 39: Generic Day 1 of 14

Mika and Naruto stumbled out onto the practice field after nearly eating Ichiraku out of business.

"Ughhh!", she let out a sigh of relief as she fell down in the grass under an oak tree, stretching out her arms in the process. Naruto sat down beside her, smiling. "I've never met anyone who could out eat me…and live to tell the tale!", the elder blonde exclaimed.

"Are you going to start training me now?" He jabbed his aunt in the stomach.

"AH God! Quit you brat!" She shoved his had away from her. "And to answer you…kinda. But I thought we could talk for a while first."

"Talk?!? We don't have time to talk! I need to get stronger right now! You need to teach me how to control this…this…", he got quiet.

"Monster?"

"…yea."

Mika rolled onto her side and looked at him softly. "I wanna talk first. Tell me, why do you consider it a monster?"

"What do you mean?"

She smiled and shook her head. "I mean tell me about it. What does it look like? If it talks and makes noise, what does it sound like? How does it make you feel?"

He leaned back against the tree and sat silently for a moment, looking off toward the edge of the forest. "It's red."

_First time I heard that one…Looks? Sounds? Feels? And I get 'red'. _"And?"

"It's usually silent, except when I'm upset…when I'm angry. Then it talks."

"What does it say?"

_What the fuck are you getting at?_

_Quiet. I'm working an angle here._

Naruto continued. "It talks about how I 'need' it. And how I should be grateful for its help."

"Hmmm…" Mika pondered for a minute, rolling back onto her back and staring up at the leaves of the tree they were under.

Naruto broke her thoughts. "Oba-chan! How is this—" She raised her hand to silence him.

"You don't have any sense of entitlement, do you?"

"Huh?"

"Just listen to me here. I think I know your problem. It's not about strength. It's about self-esteem." She continued to stare at the branches of the tree, using her hands to help get your point across. "See, I was raised with a sense of entitlement. My family and friends, however few they were, told me that I was good and talented and important."

"I never had any of that.", Naruto mumbled sadly. "I was left alone."

Mika turned her head to the side to look at him. "We're not so different, you know." He shot her a mild glare. "Now don't you go emo on me you little punk.", she sneered. "I was scorned too. The only difference was that you were shunned and ignored, pushed aside. Left alone so no one had to deal with you. I on the other hand, with my older brother as the Hokage, I had to sit center stage. I couldn't be ignored. I had to be dealt with. There was a spotlight on my pain. At the same time that I was cursed, I was respected because of my brother." Mika looked up again so she could see the branches again. "Talk about a double standard. The only difference between us is that you were in the dark and I was in the light. And because I was in the light, I gained a higher sense of self-worth."

"I know that I'm worth something!", he contested.

"I didn't say that you thought you were worthless. But you clearly don't think that you're worth more than the nine-tails."

"What the hell are you talking about?!?"

"It lords itself over you." Mika paused as she realized that he wouldn't understand it that way. "O.k. umm…just like you put your friends before yourself, you also put the Kyuubi before yourself."

"But I don't like the Kyuubi."

The frustrated woman shook her head and covered her eyes with her arm. "That's not the point I'm making. Look, in order to at least stop the Kyuubi from controlling you, you have to care more about yourself than about it." There was more silence. "You're still not understanding are you?"

"Not a bit." He looked over at her.

_Alright, I've got an idea. Hope it works…_ Mika sat up and faced him. "What are you thinking about when you draw on the Kyuubi's power? What are you thinking about when you're angry?"

_Careful, he's like the Hulk. You wouldn't like him when he's angry! HaHaHa!_

_I know, that's what I'm going for._

"I don't know." The teenager shrugged his shoulders in apathy. He'd grown bored with the conversation. Damn short attention span.

_Here goes…_"How about that Uchiha kid, huh? Does that piss you off?" He looked at her with a slight shock in his eyes. He couldn't believe that she would mention that name. "Oh? What's this?" Mika stood up. "Does just the mention of that emo faggot traitor piss you off?"

"Stop it.", he warned.

"Why? Everyone knows what low-lying scum he is. Heh, now he's that snake-fucking piece of shit's lap-dog."

"I said Stop It, Mika!" He stood up and started to glow with a red chakra.

She stared him in the eyes before quietly continuing her lesson. In a very soft and comforting voice she spoke to him. "This is what I was talking about." Naruto still glared at her with a hardened stare, his sharp teeth ground tight against themselves. One tail struggled to form. "You are thinking about Sasuke. This is the problem. When you think about others, you give the Kyuubi an opening to take utter control." She placed her hands on his shoulders, pressing down lightly, motioning for him to take a seat again. "Breathe. Calm down and clear your mind. Stop thinking about everything."

A few moments later he looked up at her with big doe eyes, full of remorse. He opened his mouth like he wanted to apologize, but nothing came out. She nodded her head, completely understanding how he felt at that moment.

Now, with the both of them sitting down again, Mika started to talk again. "Do you remember when I lost control back when you came to get me in Kumo?" He nodded his head, recalling the carnage. "Well, at that time the only thing that was racing through my mind was that my best and only friend was dead. And you saw what happened. I can hardly remember it, but I remember the pain."

"Yea….the pain.", he muttered.

Mika continued. "Now then, do you remember when you and I had our fight yesterday?"

"Of course.", he seemed to be in the process of cheering up.

"Back then, I was only thinking about myself and my goals. Not you, or the bet, or anything, just the task at hand that I wanted to complete and nothing else. My goal was to not get knocked down."

"Heh, you failed." He snickered.

She bopped him in his ear. "Yet again… beside my point." Mika smiled slightly. "You see you can't let your guard down otherwise the Kyuubi will take the opportunity to take control and do as it pleases. That is why you must act coldly with it. You have to only focus on you." She poked him in his chest. "You choose to remain calm. You cannot afford to be completely controlled by it. It will do what it wants to do, not what's best for you."

"O.k. So how do I learn how to do that?"

Mika turned her head and stared off into the distance. "….fuck if I know." She shrugged her shoulders as she fell back down in the grass. Naruto was silent, leaning against the tree with bug eyes and twitching.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'YOU DON'T KNOW'!!!", he screeched.

At that moment Akamaru came bounding up to the two of you. "Awww!", Mika chirped. "Akamaruuu, little puppy, come here!" She reached out and hugged the giant dog. "OH I jus wuv u soooo much!" The irritating way in which she spoke can only be expressed in such informal text.

"Hi Mika. Sup Naruto." Kiba greeted the two of them.

"Hello.", the more feminine of the two cheerfully replied.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'YOU DON'T KNOW'!!!", Naruto again shouted, only this time he was considerably closer to Mika's ear.

"Quit yelling you retard!" Kiba shouted and then turned to Mika, looking for an explaination. "What the hell's wrong with him anyway? I heard him shouting a moment ago so I came to see what the problem was."

She was holding her now deaf ear. "Aww, he's just upset cause I'm not a genius like he wants me to be."

"Huh?"

"Hold on one sec, Puppy." Mika turned back to face a twitching and clearly upset Naruto. "Hey, look. I never learned to separate my emotions from my actions. I was born that way. I'm just a naturally cold person. I'll admit that on a few select occasions, I have lost myself and succumbed to my emotions and the power of the Rokubi. But those were very rare occasions."

_In the woods 'cough' cough'._

_When I was drunk 'cough' cough'. _

_Fuck you!_

_Fuck you. _:)

Naruto huffed and puffed for a few more moments. "So I have to be 'cold'?"

"Yea. Unemotional, if you want to be a bit more technical." His aunt looked around trying to think of some way to teach him. "O.k., uh… you see that rock over there?", she pointed to a large flat-topped rock a good twelve meters away. "Go sit on top of it and meditate."

"But—"

"No 'buts'. Go.", she ordered. He sluggishly stood and jumped over on top of the rock.

"Mika.", Kiba started as he sat down beside her under the tree. "I don't think Naruto knows how to meditate."

"Well he's gonna learn now." She leaned back on her elbows and watched Naruto fidget around on the rock. "So how's life been treating you Kiba-kun?"

"Alright I guess. Nothing new or anything."

Mika let out a small giggle as Naruto donned a grumpy, determined face and started to chant 'ooomm'. "Then I take it that you've yet to tell Hinata that you like her?"

"No…", she got a sad reply before an exasperated, "..Wait, wah?! I uh… I uh, mean…", he stuttered.

She raised her hand, waving off his faltering speech. "It's cool, you're secret's safe with me."

"Heh.", he scratched the back of his head nervously for a moment. "So how've things been with you?"

"Eh, they've been better; they've been worse. The only thing that is currently pressing on my mind is how the hell am I going to teach Naruto how to do something."

"Yea, I know. He's kinda hopeless." Kiba threw a stick for Akamaru to run after.

Mika raised her eyebrow confused by his agreement. "Huh? No, I mean, how am **I** going to teach him. I've never taught anyone, anything. Then again, things like this tend to have a way of working themselves out."

"That's true."

She looked over at him and smiled widely. "I have a theory, you see."

"Oh?" Akamaru came trotting back and laid down between the two of them.

"Yea.", she started. "In life, there is genius, hard work, and luck. Naruto's got all three working in his favor. He was gifted with natural stamina and strength, he sets his mind to do something and he does it no matter what, and I'll be damned if you can find a kid born luckier than him. It's like a trifecta of perfection or something like that."

The three of them, including Akamaru, sat there till the afternoon, watching Naruto have aneurism after aneurism while trying to learn how to be emotionless. Though in all fairness, the sticks and stones that Mika and Kiba occasionally thrown at him for the hell of it –er- I mean, to teach him how to keep his cool under pressure, didn't help.

"Oh. Here you are." A voice called to Mika from behind.

"Huh? Oh, hi.", she smiled as Kakashi walked up to the tree the three of them were sitting under.

"You've been out here all alone all day?"

"Nah, Kiba's been keeping me company." Akamaru whined. "And Akamaru, too.", the blonde obliged the whimpering puppy and patted him on the head. She looked up and realized that Kiba was silently staring at Naruto. She turned to follow his gaze. "What the hell?"

Mika stood up and stared at a semi-frightening sight. Naruto was sitting there silently with his arms downs at his side. A red aura surrounded and bubbled around him. He twitched every few moments and had his eyes shut tightly.

The three ninja slowly walked forward a few steps, with Akamaru staying directly behind Kiba, in case anything bad were about to happen. "Kiba, throw a rock at him.", Mika ordered quietly.

"Huh?", he absently responded. He had never seen Naruto like this before.

"God damn it. I'll do it." She bent down, scooped up a flat stone and hurled it right at him. It struck him square between the eyes.

"ACK!!" Naruto swayed backward and then lurched forward, falling off the rock. The red chakra dissipated and the group approached him.

"You know Sparky, I've got this little piece of paper." Kakashi handed it to her. "Jiraiya made it and it suppresses the Kyuubi up to two tails without the need for a rock."

She took the paper and shoved it into her pocket. "Oh, huh, well that would have been more convenient, but a lot less fun."

"Yea, well. Just in case, keep that with you." He squeezed her shoulder.

"Thanks." Mika turned her attention to the face down Naruto. Hooking her foot under him, she flipped him over. "Oi, you alright?"

He grumbled and rubbed the spot on his forehead where the rock struck. "Do I look alright to you?", he snapped.

The offending rock-thrower grinned. "That's a yes. So what were you doing up there?"

"What you told me to do. I was drawing out its power without it taking control of me."

Mika's, Kiba's and Kakashi's one eye all doubled in size. Somehow they were all somewhat shocked that he was actually getting the hang of it in only a matter of days. "Oh. Uh, sorry we stopped you then. But I think you've done enough for today." Mika extended her hand down to her nephew.

"Really? I think I can do more." Naruto insisted.

"Yea, I'm sure you can. But I'm done with watching you and it wouldn't be safe for you to do this training without someone watching you. So you're done for today."

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**I know, it was on the boring side. Next chapter, we get into some 'intrigue', bum, bum, bum! Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy? If ya'll know what that's from, you are officially 'cool' in my book. ;) Review? More snaps for you if ya do! (If ya know what that if from, then More Snaps for You!)**


	41. Generic Day 14 of 14

**So yea, this chapter gives ya'll some explanations about Mika's past. Plus, some cool action-y sequences. P.S. For the love of God, pay attention to the first half of this chapter!**

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Chapter 40: Generic Day 14 of 14

"It sure was nice out tonight." Mika let out with an exasperated sigh. It had been two weeks since she had begun 'training' Naruto. Two wonderful, laid-back weeks of mid-afternoon picnics, late night dinners, and not an ounce of worry or stress in the world. Sure, Naruto had only mastered how to control one tail, but hey, it was progress. Not that she cared, because the longer he took to learn, the more time she had to spend with Kakashi. Hehe, aren't we glad that Tsunade promised for there to be no missions so long as she was still training her nephew.

"Yes, it was." Kakashi answered her, squeezing her shoulder lovingly.

Mika leaned into him as they walked. "The atmosphere at the restaurant was amazing. It would have been perfect if it wasn't for that red-head two tables over."

"Who?" He asked hesitantly, though Mika hadn't noticed his change in demeanor.

"That red haired girl. She kept staring at you. It bugged me a bit, but I must say I like being the envy of every girl in town.", the blonde beamed happily. "You didn't notice her?"

"No, she must have been sitting in my blind spot.", he answered a bit too quickly, but again Mika didn't notice.

"Ha, blind spot. You're funny." She jabbed him in the arm as the two of them walked up to her apartment door. She unlocked it and turned back to face him. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to come in?"

Kakashi took a moment to think, the decision for the greater good being made. "..Yea. I'm sure."

Mika laughed quietly. "Gosh, I feel like I'm thirteen and not supposed to ask. Is this how it would have been if I had never left?"

His singular eye squinted with a smile. "You mean how it should have been? And yes."

"Alright then, goodnight my ever-chivalrous pervert. I will see you in the morn." She bid him ado with an overly zealous medieval accent.

"Goodnight Sparky."

She giggled "I love that name.", and shut the door.

Mika got ready for bed and curled up underneath the covers.

_Wow, when was the last time I ever felt this great? _

_Would you like for me to answer that?_

_Hmmm…no. You'll probably just say something to ruin my mood. Though at this moment, I don't think that's possible._

Mika rolled over to look out the window. The moon was shining down, right unto the bed bathing it in pure, silvery moonlight.

_This is how life should be. _

_Not quite._

……_ok, I'm curious. What, pray tell, is missing? _

_Someone to share the view with._

_Ah, you're right. I am missing my beloved Kakashi. _

_Actually I was thinking more along the lines of an Uchiha._

…_and I didn't think it was possible for you to ruin my mood._

_No really, for some reason, I've been thinking of Itachi an awful lot lately._

……_.zzzzzzzzz. _

_Hey! I listen to you when you're having a thought!.....god dammit._

"Aw, would just be quiet. I wanna go to sleep.", Mika mumbled out loud to the Rokubi.

_Wow, you would actually speak aloud to try and shut me up?_

"Yep, cause I want to have a good dream.", she smirked and tried to go to sleep. "Plus, no one's here to see how utterly insane I am for talking to a voice inside my head."

_Fine, I'm tired too. I'll tell you about my problems in the morning. Kay?_

_......_

_Kay??_

"Yes! Fine, shut up.", our blonde heroine rolled back to the other side of the bed and fell asleep.

-Dream-

"So that's really how it is then." She stood alone with one other, in a large cavernous hallway that was lit with barely enough candles to allow for an ominous glow.

"Yes." Itachi answered her. He had just finished explaining to her that he was, how shall we say, not loyal to Madara. Earlier in the conversation she had called him a magnificent actor. He made what could have been called a subtle laugh if it had not been for his placid, dead eyes. The decision to tell Mika had not been an easy one, but according to him, her mannerisms when she thought no one was looking indicated that her heart was not with that demon either. He took the risk and it paid off.

"Now all I need is that way out." Mika rubbed her eyes.

He took a step closer and held her at half an arm's length. "You know that even if you get out of here, you would have to come back. You house the Rokubi and there is no escaping that fact. Where ever you go, you're still going to be trapped here."

"Yea, I know. But…I promised that I would leave if ever the opportunity came."

"Hn." The two of them felt two dark chakra signatures grow closer. "Maybe this is it.", he whispered in her ear.

"Heh, yea." Mika looked over her shoulder as one of the figures approached. "That's far enough Orochimaru." She called out and turned to stand sidelong between the two powerful adversaries. She still had her part to play and as long as she was part of Akatsuki, that was to be Itachi's guardian. He should only fight if he absolutely has to.

"Get out of my way little girl. This is between the Uchiha and me. Not his shadow.", the snake sannin hissed.

"Too bad. Per my orders, no one touches him without going through me. I'd back off if I were you."

"Heh, still as stubborn as ever. It's a pity I never had my chance to teach you. You could have become a wonderful asset to me and my plans."

Mika raised an eyebrow at the pompous statement. "…somehow I doubt that your plans are big enough to include someone of my…caliber… in them. I much prefer where I'm standing right now, thank you." She turned to face him completely with a smirk across her face. "You have no idea what you're messing with."

"Is that a threat coming from poor, sad, orphaned and abandoned Namikaze Hana? What can you do? Shock me? Someone as untrained as you could never stand on the same level as me."

The blonde tilted her head to the side and laughed lightly. Keeping her eyes on the snake sannin in front of her, she slightly turned her head to get Itachi's attention behind her. "Heh, what do you suppose this jackass thinks I've been doing for the last eight years?"

"I think it's safe to assume that he doesn't believe you've gotten any stronger." She got a cold, simple answer.

Mika turned back to fully face Orochimaru. "Ah, but you see, I have gained more than just strength over the years. I've gained knowledge, patience, and that previously undiscovered killer instinct that that retched village failed to kindle in me. I'm a completely different monster." The whites of her eyes became clouded over and turned black.

"So…", the snake sannin began. "You've learned to harness the Rokubi's power better."

"Better, you say? No. Not better. We can operate as one person now. I guess you could call us, a perfect weapon." He took a step back and prepared to attack. "Comrade,", Mika called behind her. "I think it would be wise if you moved off to the side."

Itachi nodded. "He's not worth my time." With that, he turned and walked off toward the shadows of the vast corridor that surrounded the four of powerful entities. He joined the other dark figure, Sasori, on the side, who was preparing to watch his partner get murdered in front of him. "Don't you care that Orochimaru might die?", Itachi carelessly asked.

"Don't you care that Hana might die?"

"Hn." The two of them turned their attention back to the match.

It was a long and tiring fight. Debris was thrown everywhere and more than once Sasori had to use his puppet tail to defend himself from the larger pieces of shrapnel. Itachi didn't have to raise so much as a finger to the pieces that flew his way because before any one chunk got too close, Mika would jump in its path to deflect it or take the hit for him. It wasn't too high a price to pay with her impenetrable diamond skin, though it took its toll on her clothes.

_Damn it, this is taking too long. Sensei will be upset if I don't finish this now. Fucking snake won't stay still long enough for me to really nail him. _

_Let him get a hit in on you, then hold him close and finish him off._

_Sounds good, but where should I let him hit me? _

_Left arm, you use it the least and it won't prevent you from dodging if the plan fails._

_Agreed, left arm._

He had begun using a sword. Mika charged with her left arm leading. He took the bait, piercing straight through the shoulder. It was closer to the heart that Mika would have liked and she briefly contemplated the repercussions of her now shredded joint, but with her right claw wrapped around his throat, squeezing the life out of him, she wasn't about to complain. As per the plan, her left arm was now completely disabled.

_O.k., now what? _

_Burn him!_

Mika started to build a large electrical charge to send hurling down her right arm when Pain walked up to the two of them. Orochimaru squirming in her solid grasp while she held her cold, hardened stare on him.

"Hana, let him go." The soulless ginger kid ordered her.

Mika wasn't stupid. If she wanted out of here she knew that she would have to play their game. So she did as she was ordered. The snake sannin gratefully gasped at the air before giving the sword, currently impaling her, a good 120 degree twist before pulling it out of her shoulder. Without so much as a grimace, she gripped her heavily damaged shoulder.

Pain turned to Orochimaru. "You have two minutes to get out of here before I rip you limb from limb." The sannin, knowing full well what wrath Pain would have in store for him, left. There was no way for him to defeat him in his, thanks to Mika, weakened state.

"Follow me Hana." Pain turned and started to walk away. She gave Itachi one last glance, nodding in thanks and farewell, careful to hide any unwanted emotions. Sasori **was** still in the room after all, though he seemed preoccupied with one of his attendants at the moment.

Mika knew where she was headed as she bled profusely from her injury. Pain was taking her to see Madara. Walking down the hallway things suddenly got darker, a feeling of terror slowly rose up her spine. She could no longer see Pain and all she could feel was the fear of the place. No, Mika wasn't in Akatsuki headquarters anymore. She was somewhere else. This wasn't a memory anymore, it was a nightmare. Someone…no, something was breathing down her neck. Swirling around to face it, nothing was there. She let escape a brief sigh of relief before turning back to follow the now long gone image of Pain, only to come face to face with Madara's eyes boring straight though her own.

-End of Nightmare-

Mika screamed as she fell off the bed, sending a massive burst of electricity into the wall of her bedroom. She struggled to get her bearings as she laid on the floor with her arm outstretched toward the wall.

_Are you alright?_

"Gah, ah…", she panted. "Uh,….ah…..yea."

_Seriously, you had a terrifying dream. I was almost scared watching you have it._

"Thank you….that's super comforting." The still panicked blonde sat up on her knees and stared at the wall, now blackened with scorch marks.

'CRackLE..cracKLe..CRACkle'

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**Yup, that's right. Orochimaru cut up Mika's shoulder and made it all bum in stuff. If you don't read the manga, my apologies, but Itachi trusted Mika with his secret; he doesn't follow Madara. Review? Ya'll know how I love 'em more than burning letters into leaves with a magnifying glass! (P.S. That is incredibly entertaining for me.) (P.S.S. I swear if you aren't paying attention, you will be lost in two chapters time. I'm being all sneaky-like and trying to shock ya'll... not lose ya'll.)**


	42. Early Morning Accidents

**Cuteness plus Fluffiness! But first, action packed Action!**

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Chapter 41: Early Morning Accidents

'CRackLE..cracKLe..CRACkle'

_So seeing as how you're awake now, are you going to listen to me and my thoughts about Itachi?_

"Yea, shoot." Mika continued to stare silently at her bedroom wall.

_Ok, so he came here about a month ago and you know it must have been of his own will right? You see, I say that cause we know that he trusts you..and by 'you' I mean 'us'. _

She slowly reached out to touch the wall. "Get to the point, please.", she mumbled as her fingers traced the scorch marks.

_Right. He must need our help. He can't trust that fishy bastard that Madara stuck him with as our replacement. He only sounded all 'threatening-ly' cause that's how he operates. He needs us! We should go back to him! Doesn't it all make sense to you now?!?_

"Yes. I can see that you took your time crafting a well thought out argument, there's only one problem with it." Though meaning to sound sarcastic, it came out in an emotionless drawl as Mika was preoccupied with what was in front of her. She pulled her hand back from the now steaming hot wall. "I have to protect my nephew. I left him once and there is no reason for me to leave again. Itachi wants to protect Konoha and I want to protect my nephew who lives here. I'm sure our paths will cross eventually and I will help him then." She reached under the bed and pulled out the black sack that she had stored there. "But right now we have a more pressing issue."

_What?_

Mika rushed over and packed her satchel with a few pairs of clothes and then ran to the balcony, throwing both packs in her arms across the street to land on the opposite balcony, Kakashi's. "When I woke up like I did, I set the apartment on fire."

_What!?!_

"Yea. Bad, I know. I must have fried the circuitry and it ignited the insulation in the walls. The whole building is going to go up in flames." Mika slammed the door to her apartment behind her as she stared to run down the hallways banging on the doors of her fellow tenants, alerting them to the fire. It took only a few minutes for some of the others on her floor to wake up and continue the task of warning the rest of the building to evacuate, while Mika rushed outside.

--ZNZNZNZ--

The sound of something slamming against his balcony door woke Kakashi up. He stood up and shuffled over to the door to see two bags lying on the ground. "Hn. Not what I would have expected at…", he looked over at the clock by his bed. "..three in the morning. Ugh, way too early." He walked out to pick them up when he heard what sounded like screaming coming from across the street.

The building across the street was starting to smoke from the top floor and people were scrambling out into the street below. He looked down and saw people running in all directions; fathers herding their families away while the younger men ran in and out of the building helping people who refused to leave some of their possessions behind. "Stupid people, the building is on fire. You don't run toward fire. …...shit, Mika." He threw on a shirt and pair of pants before running down the stairs and rushing out into the crowded street. She was easy to spot. Bright, blonde hair, short spaghetti-strap nightgown, shorter shorts, and not moving; she was standing perfectly still in the middle of the street looking up at the burning building. Flames were starting to pour out of it.

--ZNZNZNZ--

"Mika!" She heard a shout behind her. "Mika, what are you doing?" She felt Kakashi grab her shoulders and ask her again, what she was doing.

"It has to be put out. If it's not, then the whole block will go up." She spoke without looking back at him.

"Yea, I'm sure. Now come on, someone else can do it."

"No." She turned to face him. "It'll take too long." She broke from his grasp and looked along the street. There were manholes every few hundred yards. "Are there sewer lines or water lines running under here?", she pointed down and looked back over to him.

"Water.", he answered. "What are you thinking?"

"I know a way to put out the fire."

"It's not your responsibility. Let's just go."

Mika walked over toward him and whispered in his ear; her voice full of guilt. "Actually, it kinda is my responsibility. I sorta started it." She took a few steps back. "A complete accident, really.", she spread her hands at her sides.

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Fine, but I'm going to help you." He pushed the hair away from his eye and stared at her with the Sharingan.

Mika smiled and started the hand signs to the jutsu she had in mind. The ground started to crumble around her creating a deep hole about 2 meters in width between the two of them. It instantly started to fill in with the water from the village's water line. Just before it started to overflow into the street, it began to swirl around. The next second it was shooting straight into the air, arching at just the right angle to drench the top floor. Then out of the main tunnel of water, smaller, though still large, tunnels formed and started to flood through the succeeding floors beneath. Each one soaking through to the core of the structure, ensuring that every last spark was extinguished.

During the ordeal, other ninja had appeared and silently stood and watched as the two of them did their job for them. Mika turned to look at them without ending the jutsu. "Hey, could one of ya'll cut the water to this street? If we stop, it'll cause a flash flood."

"Oh, uh, sure." One of the firefighting ninja took off toward the main utilities hub a few blocks away.

A couple of minutes later the water pressure died and she ended the technique. "God dammit.", she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"You alright?" Kakashi walked over and grabbed her arm.

Mika nodded silently and looked down at the ground. With another couple of hand signs the hole that she made was repaired.

"Come on.", he pulled her over to the side and led her up to his place.

Mika looked around curiously at his apartment. "You know, I've been here a little over a month and I've yet to have seen your place."

"Yea, I guess you're right." He showed she where the bathroom was so that she could clean up some from her arson spree/firefighting stint.

"This isn't too much trouble is it?" Mika asked quietly before yawning.

"Not at all. I can share a bed with my girlfriend…provided she doesn't light it on fire." He walked back to his bed and climbed in, sitting up to wait for her.

She yawned again and crawled in after him. "I told you it was an accident. I had a bad dream."

"A bad dream?" He stared out the window at the smoldering tower across the street. Somehow he doubted that those were the correct terms.

Mika followed his gaze. "A really bad dream."

He pulled her in close and kissed the top of her head. "No more bad dreams, ok?"

"Kay.", she snuggled in close and fell asleep.

--Yet another Transition--

The next morning Mika woke up to find a rather flat-faced dog breathing his gross, yet adorable, dog breath into her face. She closed her eyes and reopened them a second time, wishing that it would go away. Then it spoke.

"If you're awake, you should get up.", the pudgy brown dog grumbled.

Mika continued to stare at it motionlessly before answering it. "You're a very rude…", she sat up. "..whatever you are."

"He's a pug." Kakashi was sitting at the end of the bed, half dressed for the day.

'yawn' "What time is it?" Mika stretched her arms high above her head and smiled at him.

"Time for you to get off my bed.", the pug again grumbled at the sleepy blonde girl.

She looked back over to Kakashi. "Who is this mutt and why is he mad at me?"

"All you do is ask questions. Now get up off your rear end and leave." The pug went to bite her arm, but Kakashi picked him up by the scruff of his neck before his teeth reached Mika.

"It's about 11:30 in the morning. You out slept me." He held the small dog against him. "And this is Pakkun, who's grouchy in the morning. He's a summoned animal.", he looked at her with one of those looks.

_I see where this I going. _

_No use hiding it. Go on, that little rat with wings loves meeting new people._

_Nice of you to be in a good mood this morning. _

_Hehe, well you did set a building ablaze last night. Destruction is always fun._

Mika yawned and stretched out one last time before staring silently at him for a moment.

Pakkun started to growl at her. "Do something.", he commanded.

"You want, I should entertain the canine master?" She made a sarcastic flurry of bowing hand gestures. "Then but of course. Anything for the Bearer of Mange and Fleas."

"Why you--- ahhhhh…..oh right there.", Pakkun started, but Kakashi began to scratch behind the dog's ears.

"I didn't think you two would have this much trouble." Kakashi looked back up to Mika.

"Aw, I'm just messing with him. I love dogs." She reached out and scratched Pakkun under his chin. She yawned again and then scratched her arm, somewhat nervously. "So I take it you'd like to meet Watari?"

"Who?", Pakkun looked at her puzzled.

"Yes." Kakashi gave an expectant look.

'sigh' "Alright then." She reached over the side of the bed to place her hand on the ground and summon the large raven.

Watari appeared with a loud squawk and then jumped up on top of Mika's knee, using it as a launch pad to fly at her face. "Mika!!!", he shouted and fluttered in her hands as she caught him before he made contact with her. He stopped fussing and dropped to her lap. "Whoa!", he flew back into her stomach as he turned around to see Kakashi and Pakkun staring at him. "Who are you?"

"The big one is Kakashi and the little one is Pakkun.", Mika introduced them.

"Who are you calling little, huh?" Pakkun jumped forward out of Kakashi's hands.

Watari matched his jump and stared him in the face. "You have a very curious smell, my friend. What are you? A bulldog, a terrier?"

"I'm a pug." He straightened up his back and sat proudly.

"Nice. Hold still." Watari jumped up on Pakkun's head and looked at Kakashi. "I must say that you have absolutely amazing hair. How do you get it to stay like that?"

"It's a secret." Kakashi smiled and scratched his head.

"Get off of me!" Pakkun jumped up to try and startle the bird. It only caused him to flutter over to Kakashi's knee and perch there instead.

Kakashi reached out and examined the necklace on Watari's neck. "Oh you like it?", the blackbird asked. "Mika made it for me. Isn't she wonderful?", the bird fawned and looked lovingly at her.

"Yea, she's something alright.", Kakashi copied the look Watari gave her and she couldn't help but laugh.

Poor Pakkun was sitting in the middle all alone so Mika scooped him up and cuddled him. "Aw, come here little puppy."

"Let go of me woman! I am not a play thing!"

"I bet you are.", she cooed in his ear and started to scratch his belly. He did what all dogs would do in that situation. He rolled over and enjoyed it.

"Now you see," Kakashi got her attention. "This wasn't something that you needed to keep secret."

"What? You've still been keeping me a secret!" Watari scolded her. "I thought I told you to tell them about me! I swear….", he looked around the room some. "Where's this Naa-ruu-toe? You said you wanted me to meet him."

"You will, later. Maybe after lunch.", Mika crawled out of bed and went for her bag of clothes that Kakashi had brought in from outside. "I'll be right back.", she left to change clothes.

"Oooooh, lunch. What are you going to feed me?" Watari looked up at Kakashi expectantly.

"Yea, what are you going to feed us?" Pakkun joined him.

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**Come on now, ya'll. This has to be one of the better chapters. Review? Now! Please? lol, :)**


	43. Adam, Eve and Lilith

**Yea, Lilith is all mine, bitches! Kishimoto couldn't come up with a character as… unique… as Lilith. Enjoy the chapter! (aww, who am I kidding? Of course he could. He's like a genius or something. But yea, I made up Lilith and I think she's a real bitch that goes perfect with the story. It's a minor part, but super important event-inducing. lol)**

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Chapter 42: Adam, Eve, and Lilith

"I still don't get it." Naruto stared at the large, black raven sitting on Mika's shoulder.

"What's there not to get?" Watari glared at him.

"I thought only parrots could talk."

The very proud and intelligent raven started to twitch and ruffle his feathers. "Mika,", he slowly began. "I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible." He turned back to look at Naruto's squinting face. "You're nephew might be retarded."

"Gah! What! How dare you, you smart mouthed little rat with wings!" Naruto shouted at him. Watari began squawking back in retaliation.

_Hehe, Naruto's right. Watari is a rat with wings. hehe._

Mika sighed from exhaustion. This introduction had taken about 30 minutes longer than what would have been deemed 'obscenely too long'. Watari was now flapping about Naruto's head while the young teenager grasped at the air, trying to take the bird down. The now royally annoyed woman quickly reached out and grabbed Watari's little legs and held him upside down like a chicken at show. Raising him to head level she corrected his earlier statement. "Naruto is not retarded."

"Yes! Thank you oba-chan.", Naruto stuck his nose in the air and his tongue out at the raven.

The snotty boy's aunt continued. "I read his personnel file and it turns out they already tested him when he was little."

"HAHA!", Watari flipped over and perched on Mika's shoulder, laughing at her nephew's suddenly sullen face.

"Well, now that this introduction is over." Mika turned like she was fixing to walk away.

"Hey wait oba-chan!" Naruto tugged at her left arm.

"Ah! Again, stop pulling on my left arm. What is it?"

"I haven't trained today. Aren't you going to watch me?!"

"I can't today." Again she turned to walk away and he stopped her.

"This is important. What could possibly be more important than this!?"

"Listen kid," Watari interrupted before Mika could speak. "Last night was a very hectic night for your aunt. She could have DIED! So you just shut up and go…I don't know, play Red Rover or something." The bird looked back at her. "Kids his age play games like that right?" She shrugged her shoulders.

Naruto was staring at his aunt intently. "You could have died? What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine.", she waved him off. "My apartment caught fire last night, but it turned out ok. No one was injured."

"You're homeless!!" He shouted with nothing but utter concern.

"No, I'm not. I'm staying with Kakashi, which is why I have other errands to run right now."

"Yeah, no kidding doll." Watari piped up. "Come lunch time, his kitchen was practically empty! I could have starved."

"You moved in with him." Naruto deadpanned.

"Well, yea. I mean, I had nowhere else at the time and he lives right across the street." He crossed his arms and glared at her. "You're mad?" Mika asked the obviously disturbed boy.

"I'm not stupid. I know what adults do."

"Heh, yea, and I know what they don't do too." Mika scoffed off to the side. He just continued to stare at her. "Ugh, I shouldn't be talking to you about this stuff. I gotta go get some groceries. Tomorrow we'll continue your meditation training, kay?" She turned and started to walk away toward the market.

"Fine. I'll see you later Mika-chan." He called after her.

"What were you talking about back there?" Watari asked the blonde.

"Hm?"

"He said he knows what you do, and you said that you know what you don't?"

"Oh, umm… It's kinda awkward. Definitely something that you don't talk to your nephew about, regardless about how 'educated' he may be." _Damn you Jiraiya._

"Well, I'm not your nephew. Heck, I'm not even the same species. You can talk to me." He settled down comfortably on his perch, nuzzling into the nape of Mika's neck.

"It's complicated."

"I'm not going anywhere." He continued to prod.

"I said it was complicated, not that it would take a long time to explain."

"So explain already." The clever bird pecked at her neck.

"Ow. Well, we're dating, but, to me at least, it feels like we're just best friends." She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know…. I'm probably just being insecure and paranoid or something."

"Hm…yea, you've always been paranoid about things. I'm sure things will work out how they're meant to be."

Mika smiled and squeezed the bird against her neck. "Aww.. I knew there was a reason that I loved you."

"Yea, yea." He ruffled himself and adjusted his necklace. "Well, I better get going. I can't imagine what a drain I've been on you."

She held his small beak and kissed his little face. "You're never a burden."

"Bye." He poofed away like all summoned creatures.

"Gah!", Mika reached and held her ear. He did disappear right next to it. "Son of a….god damn it. That hurt."

"Are you alright, Mika-chan?" Kiba walked up and grabbed her by the arm.

She rubbed her ear again. "Huh, yeah. Why?"

"Well, you're standing in the middle of a crowded market, screaming and going on about 'I don't know what.'."

Mika looked around and noticed the familiar gawking stares. "Aw well, better to just forget it. Hey are you doing anything right now?"

"Just buying Akamaru some treats. Why?"

"I could use some help buying groceries. I'm staying with Kakashi now and his kitchen is in desperate need of stocking. So, I told him that I would get some food and that it would probably take me a few hours to do it. But hey, with ya'll guys help," she reached down and petted Akamaru. "I could finish a lot sooner."

"Yea, sure. We can help, right boy?" The dog barked in an affirmative response.

"Great, I'd love to get back early and surprise him." Mika motioned toward the nearest grocery store.

-While Mika was out shopping with Kiba and Akamaru as her pack mules, Kakashi was sitting out on his balcony reading his favorite book. He was enjoying his quiet time to read; unfortunately this peace would not last for long.-

There was a loud 'CLANK' on the railing opposite him as he read his book silently to himself. _I'm not going to pay attention to her. If I'm lucky, she'll just lose interest and go away._, he thought to himself, never taking his eyes away from his book.

"If you think I'm going to just leave then you've got another thing coming." The woman half cooed and half barked. This is your first inclination that she is fucking psychotic. The woman hopped down from her perch and glided over to where he was sitting. "Aw, come on. You used to not be able to take your eyes off of me. What happened?"

Kakashi looked up slightly from his book. "I don't know. What did happen?"

"Oh now don't you go and play coy with me!", she grabbed his arm lightheartedly. He instinctually grabbed her wrist and pushed her away.

"I'm not playing. Just go away, Lilith." He moved toward the double balcony doors. She blocked his path.

"Why won't you at least talk to me? It's not like we're enemies."

"But we're far enough from being friends. Move."

She latched onto his arm. "Didn't we have fun when we were together? We were perfect matches for each other." A sly grin spread across her face as she whispered in his ear, "All the things we used to do…"

His one eye stared down at her in contempt. "We weren't 'together'."

"Oh? Then what would you call it?"

"Nothing. Now, let go." He tried to shake the red-head, inadvertently enticing her to hold on tighter.

"That's a very hurtful thing to say. Especially to someone who knows you as well as I do."

Kakashi took a deep breath. _Alright, I've got maybe two hours before Mika said she would be back. I'll listen to what this…..she…..has to say. Then she'll leave and Mika won't get upset over nothing._ "Alright Lilith, what did you want to talk about?"

"Seriously? You've hardly said two words to me in almost six years and now you're just going to give up that easily?"

"Did you or did you not want to talk?" He turned to look out on the street, leaning against the clear glass sliding door to his bedroom.

"Well, of course I do!", she let out a deceitful giggle. "Where should we start? Ah yes, how about why you just up and left that one day? You turned in your resignation to the ANBU without giving me a warning or anything for that manner."

"Yup. I sure did."

"Why?", the red-haired beauty zeroed in on his face and stared with her large green eyes.

"I couldn't stand being around you anymore. There was too much stress and not enough time to just relax and enjoy the road of life."

Lilith stood there looking stupid with her mouth open in shock of what she just heard.

"What? Did you expect me to lie to you?"

"Uh, um." She straightened herself out. "O.k. then." Her gaze narrowed. "What's with this hussy you've been showing off around town?" He closed his eye and failed to respond to her question in time. So she added more. "She's been here, what, like a month? And the two of you are always out in public together. She's smiling and you actually look like you're interested in something for a change! You know, you never took me out!"

He reopened his eye and stared her down for a moment. "Call her a hussy again and I won't hesitate to throw you off this balcony.", he spoke in his cool, collected, and deep voice.

"You see what I mean!", she shouted with a now exasperated tone. "What do you have with her that you didn't have with me?!"

_Gee, let me think here for a second._, he sarcastically thought. "….a relationship, for one."

"What we had was special." Lilith retorted, she was now also calm. Talk about a bipolar bitch.

"Yea, it was.", he agreed with her.

She smiled and let her shoulders drop. "So you do care.", she chirped sweetly.

"No, I meant that what we had was special. Like, 'special circumstances'. There was no connection, but we kept it going anyway."

Her head fell to her chest. "But I…"

"No. No, 'but I' or anything else for that matter." Kakashi put his hand on her shoulder in a consoling manner. "You got what you wanted out of it and I got what I wanted out of it."

"So……this is really how it's going to end?" Her eyes drifted up to look at him; instead they caught a five-foot ten silhouette standing in the room behind him. _I'll show that no good whore what she's really competing with!_

"Lil, it ended six years ago." He tilted his head to the side in pity. _'sigh' I seriously should have done this years ago. I just didn't think that she would give up this quickly. This was practically painless._

"It's fine.", she smiled brightly and lunged forward wrapping her arms around his neck, staring intently at the now frozen shadow in the apartment, with one of her eyes.

"Uh…o.k. then." Kakashi hugged her back out of kindness. Lilith slowly let go, pausing momentarily to slip the corner of his mask down to give him a quick kiss on edge of his mouth. It was too quick and unexpected for him to stop her.

Lilith took a deep breath and replaced his mask for him. "Well, I wish you all the best with your new blonde girlfriend. I'm sure she's a much better match for you than I ever was. Just promise me one thing, yeah?"

"What?", he asked hesitantly.

"Don't screw up and hurt her. I don't think she could take it.", she smirked. With that, she turned and left the same way she came.

_Wow, I'm good. I got Lilith out of here with plenty of time to spare before Mika gets back._ "He turned around and walked back into his apartment. He made it all the way into the kitchen where he noticed all these groceries already on the table. _Huh?_, he thought. "Mika! Are you here?" _Oh crap, did she see Lilith?! This isn't good. _He rushed to the door and almost missed the note left by the handle. He snatched it up and read it quickly.

It read: Sorry I didn't say hi. I had something to do and you seemed to be enjoying reading your revolting choice in literature so I didn't want to bother you. I'll see you later. -Mika.

He took a deep relaxing breath. _O.k. so she didn't see Lilith. Yea, she wouldn't leave a note if she was angry and she would only be angry if she saw Lilith. Dodged a bullet there, thank god._

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**Oooooh! We're almost caught up to where I left off with my old story… though it sucks that I only have maybe a quarter of my old readers, but I guess that's what new super awesome new readers are for.** **Reviews!!!**


	44. Playing Human

**Kinda rushed this one out; I wanted it out at the same time as the one before it. I've got chores and work to get to, so if ya'll notice any mistakes or something along those lines, let me know and I'll fix 'em.**

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Chapter 43: Playing Human

Mika walked up to Kakashi's apartment, rummaging through her pocket for the extra key that he had given her. Finding it and opening the door, she looked over her shoulder at Kiba as she walked inside. "Hey, thanks again for helping me out today."

"No problem.", he huffed. She had him carrying seven full bags of groceries. Behind him was Akamaru wearing a harness that had an additional ten bags weighing him down.

"Kitchen's that way.", Mika pointed. "I'm going to go say hi to Kakashi." She smiled and walked off toward where she expected to find him; out on the balcony reading his book. The only problem was, he wasn't alone.

The shocked blonde stopped dead in her tracks, staring at that same red-haired woman that she kept seeing all over town. It had occurred to her once or twice that maybe she was stalking the her, but the idea was too self-centered to entertain.

_So……_ Forming coherent thoughts was fast becoming a difficult task as Mika's rational mind fought to decide what it was that she was seeing.

_Son of a bitch! That bastard!_, the Rokubi shouted.

_Uh……wait. She…..He……They're…… _

_He's been cheating on us, I mean you! All this time! Let's kill him! Cheating assholes like him don't deserve to live! I could do it, just__--_

_--just shut up._, Mika quietly thought in a hurt voice.

The red-haired woman had thrown herself around his neck and was staring her down.

_Who is she? And why is he holding her? _

_I'll tell you why! She's his mistress and he's only been dragging you along for the ride! That__--_

_--yes, I'm aware now that he is a son of a bitch. I should have expected this. He's always been the quiet, mysterious type. He only wanted me around as a nostalgic reminder of his childhood. I knew it, I wasn't paranoid. I'm really nothing to him._

_Aw, sweetheart. Don't let it get to you too much. Come on, there's always another way; another place we could go._

Kakashi was still holding her when she pulled away and kissed him on the edge of his lips; not through his mask, on his actual lips.

_He trusts her enough to let her pull his mask down! I-I….I can't take this anymore!_

Mika rushed out of the room to the kitchen. She coughed quietly to compose her voice. "Hey, Kiba-kun."

"Oh yea, Mika. We just finished unpacking all of your groceries. Did you need help putting them away too?"

"No.", she swallowed hard. "Uh, Kiba thank you. You're such a wonderful boy. But, we need to l-leave.", she stuttered. Akamaru walked forward and whimpered looking at her heartbroken face. Mika looked away momentarily holding her breath to stop the tears.

_God stop me! Why should I waste tears over this! _

_Sweetie.._, the Rokubi tried to comfort her.

_--shut up! Just shut up!_

"Mika, what's wrong?" Kiba looked at her with a concerned expression.

"Nothing. Don't tell anyone about this, alright?"

"About what? What's going on?" He walked past her and waited by the front door, staring in the direction of Kakashi's room.

"Let me just leave a note." _I don't want them to suspect that I saw them._ Mika quickly scribbled down some nonsense about having something to do and not wanting to bother 'him', as if there was only one she saw, before taking off, pushing Kiba and Akamaru ahead of herself.

Once they were a few blocks away, Mika finally stopped walking. She leaned back against a fence in an alleyway.

"Mika, what happened?" Kiba stared at the teary-eyed woman sternly.

She looked up and half-smiled. "You're a good friend, Kiba-kun."

"Mika,", he started again but she cut him off.

"Kakashi's been cheating on me."

"…….oh." He suddenly looked around, feeling very awkward all of a sudden.

"Yea. I don't really know what else to say either." There was another quiet moment before she looked back at his face to judge his emotion. To her surprise he had a look of quiet, intense anger.

"So what are we going to do?" He asked, looking at her sternly.

"Uh…..", the despairing woman scrambled for something to say. _I can't have Kiba make a big scene with this._ "Well, you are going to be quiet and not tell a soul what I have told you. And I, well, I just need some time alone to figure out some things."

"No way, that bastard needs to be put in his place!" Kiba shouted and Akamaru barked in unison with him.

"NO!" Mika stood up straight and stared him down. "I will handle this in my own way. You", she grabbed his shoulder. "You are not going to do anything. O.k.?"

He pouted and sneered down the street in the direction of Kakashi's apartment. "Fine.", he mumbled.

"Good." Mika let him go and walked away. Once she was out of sight, she took off in a full sprint to hide and figure out what her next move should be.

Sitting up on top of the mountain monument of her brother, she took a few hours to figure out what needed to be done. Being out of sight and hearing range of everyone, she didn't want to stop the tears anymore. No one ever knows how to handle a situation like this, and she was no exception. The Rokubi should have been given an award for how hard it worked to comfort/influence her. Thanks to his smooth words, she had come to a definite conclusion. There was no other way, she would have to stop running around it. The truth, not just the parts she didn't mind admitting to, would have to come out. No more mysterious six year gap in her timeline. No more omitting the Akatsuki, Madara, or Itachi.

_You know, you're going to have to go back and face him eventually._

"No, I can't. I-I just can't."

_Well, if it would make things easier for you, I could always take control and get you back to the Hokage's office so that you can talk to her. You know, like we agreed you should._

"No. I don't want you causing trouble. That'll make this…..god, this awful situation, worse."

_Nah, I promise. I'll act like you. And once we get our proof from Kakashi's apartment, I'll walk us over to the Hokage's place and then you can tell her the truth._

"Truth.", Mika mumbled to herself as she looked over the village through tear-clouded eyes. "You know that she'll have no choice but to imprison me."

_You are such a child, getting so caught up in this situation. Don't you remember Itachi's promise? He'll get us outta there in no time! Plus, while we're in prison, you don't have to deal with Kakashi. It's a win-win situation!_

Mika silently nodded in agreement. "I don't want to see him or hear him or anything. Do you hear me, Rokubi?"

"Loud and clear." He took over, sliding on a chic pair of sunglasses to hide her now black orbs. He headed down the mountain grinning ear to ear, fully pleased with himself for getting this opportunity. _Hmmm….now off to Kakashi's to get our secret little black bag._ He started to walk toward the secluded neighborhood, but was stopped by a certain loud pink-haired girl.

"Mika-chan!"

"Eh?" _What the hell? I don't want to deal with this brat!_

"Mika," Sakura caught up with him. "Tsunade-sama wants to see us immediately."

"Uh, well. Just tell her I had to do something right quick. I'll be there soon."

"No! She demanded that we rush over there right now!" She grabbed Mika's hand and dragged her down the streets leading to the Hokage's Mansion.

"Dear god, child! Let go!" The Rokubi screamed to no avail. She pulled him along, right up to Tsunade's desk. At which point she finally let go, allowing him to drop to the floor with a thud. "You are freakishly strong!"

"And she gets it from me." Tsunade leaned over her desk to stare at Mika on the floor. "Now stand up!"

_Damn you Mika! If I didn't think you would notice I would so break this woman's neck._ He stood up and realized just who all was in the room. Tsunade was behind her desk, Sakura to the left, and Naruto and Kakashi to the right. _Aw, fuck me, man. This is too hard. I want out. _He scratched the back of his head and avoided eye contact with the aforementioned cheating bastard.

"Where have you been?" Kakashi whispered in Mika's ear as she stood up. The Rokubi only giggled in response.

"Now then," Tsunade straightened herself out, "seeing as how we're all here now." She reached into her desk, grabbed a small scroll and handed it to the Mika.

Everyone was staring at her as she just stood there holding it. She looked around. "What?"

"Open it oba-chan!!!" Naruto shouted.

"Ugh, fine. You don't have to be so freakin' loud."

_I really don't see what Mika sees in you._

"Ah, let's see…" She opened it quickly and scanned over the contents. "It's Santa's Nice or Naughty list. Oh look, Sakura and Naruto are both on the Nice side. But poor Kakashi is on the Naughty side." She turned to face the masked man. "Did you do something that you shouldn't have?"

Kakashi stared back with a knowing look. _How the hell did that monster get back in control of Mika? Is she alright? Is she drunk?_ "It's not Santa's list." He snatched it out of the Mika's hand and read it himself. "I take it we need to leave immediately?" He asked Tsunade.

"No, I thought you could go on a quick three day vacation first." The Hokage's sarcasm went unappreciated. "Of course you need to leave now! That is, if you want even the slightest chance of catching up with him."

"Him who?! What's going on!?", Naruto shouted. He turned to face his aunt. "Oba-chan what did it say? Tell me!"

The Rokubi glared at him from behind his sunglasses. "You whine too much."

"Huh?"

"I didn't stutter. You whine about things too much, especially for a ninja. But to feed your incessant curiosity, it mentioned something about Uchtaka or Uchika or something like that." She turned to look away from the blonde ninja.

"Uchiha?" Naruto turned to look back at Tsunade.

"Yea that's right. We got a report of three unidentified ninja traveling along the outer edge of the Fire Country."

Sakura gasped at the idea of finding Sasuke before letting her mind refocus on the situation. "Wait, how do we know it's not Akatsuki?" She asked apprehensively.

"Cause Akatsuki only travel in pairs." The Rokubi broke in with Mika's voice. "If we're going, we really ought to go."

"Well aren't we in a rush?" Tsunade snapped. "How do figure I would let you even go?"

The Rokubi glared irritably at the woman, though his stare was somewhat dulled from the darkness of the sunglasses. "You wasted the time to have your lapdog fetch me in this most time-sensitive matter. Why the fuck else would you do that? Oh wait, it could be that you're just stu--" Kakashi clamped her mouth shut before the Rokubi did something that would be called 'just plain stupid'.

"She's had a long day." Kakashi offered an excuse for her actions.

Tsunade grumbled some indecipherable curses before shouting at the group. "Well go already! I want ya'll out of the village in five minutes!"

"Yes Tsunade-sama!" Sakura saluted and ran out the door with Naruto just ahead of her.

The Rokubi huffed and turned on heel to casually walk out the door. Kakashi followed closely behind, holding onto Mika's left arm. Once outside the mansion, he finally broke the silence.

"How long have you been parading around the village in control of Mika?"

"Heh, how long has it been glaringly obvious?" The Rokubi snorted a cocky reply.

"I want to talk to Mika. Is she alright?"

The Rokubi turned around quickly, jerking her left arm free from his grasp, though causing a sharp pain. "Well, that depends on who you ask. And uh, you can talk to her…..later. Right now, I believe we have a mission." He took off over the rooftops toward Kakashi's apartment to gather a few necessities for the wilderness along with the black bag that Mika took such care to save from the fire.

Kakashi followed of course, given he had the same destination. But also, he knew that he couldn't let the Rokubi get out of his sight. _There's no way Mika would give that thing control willingly. What happened?_, he thought to himself.

The Rokubi threw on a packed satchel and discreetly stuffed the black bag inside. _Um, Mika? Are you there?_ He didn't receive a reply. She was too far within herself to be conscious of what was going on. _Damn, you're really upset aren't you…..Hello?.... God, you better make this asshole pay for hurting you, when you get back._

"Hey!" Kakashi called out to him.

"What now? Can't you see I'm busy here!" The Rokubi shouted back.

Kakashi walked forward in a deliberate and imposing manner. "Tell me what you did to Mika."

"Aren't you some kind of genius? Shouldn't you already know what happened to her?"

"I'm not going to ask you again." He replied.

The Rokubi laughed at his sternness. "Ha! You look so serious." Kakashi slowly slid up his headband. "Ooo… I'm shaking." He mocked the Copy-Ninja and took off his sunglasses in reply.

The two stared each other down for what felt like an eternity. Though it only lasted a matter of seconds. Kakashi glared at the demon with his bright red eye and the demon, unblinking, stared right back. Neither one would dare to back down.

"Don't make me…" Kakashi quietly threatened.

"Don't make you what?" The Rokubi again scoffed at the man's determination. "If you knew anything about me or Mika, you would know that it takes a Sharingan hell of a lot more powerful than yours to even scratch the surface of us." He broke out in a fit of giggling. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't keep it up anymore.", he cried wiping the tears that fell from his solid black eyes.

"This isn't funny." Kakashi grabbed him by the shoulders.

"No… It's hilarious." The Rokubi replied in an utterly deadpan tone, while sliding his sunglasses back on. "But when you find out the truth of what's going on here…. Well, it's gonna be more than worth me keeping my mouth shut now."

_I don't get it…_, Kakashi thought. _What is he talking about?_ "Let me talk to Mika."

"Geez, you make an awful lot of demands. Come on neither one of us needs other people catching on to this charade." He turned and walked to the door. "Besides, if Mika wanted to talk to you, she could. The girl has more control over me than I think she realizes."

"So what's wrong?" Kakashi kept a tight grip on Mika's left arm as the pair left the apartment.

"Like I said, the reveal is worth me not saying. Now shut up, we're outside now and we don't want to get anyone's attention."

"She saw, didn't she." He spun the Rokubi around in the middle of the street. The two stared at each other silently. Any passersby would have thought that perhaps they were just sharing a close, quiet moment, but the truth was much more sorrowful.

_Boy, he's a clever one ain't he?......hn. You're really gone for now aren't you? 'sigh' Hurry up and finish your mourning! Christ, you'd think your brother died!...Again!..........wow, nothing? No response to that one? Screw it, I'll enjoy this._

The Rokubi slowly let a smirk spread across Mika's face. "Can't say." He let the words fall playfully from her mouth. It was sick how happy Mika looked, while the truth was gradually and painfully crushing both of their hearts.

"Can't or Won't?" He growled.

"Well, I know what I saw. But who's to say that Mika saw the same thing." Kakashi griped her arm tighter. "Ouch, careful sweetie. You're hurting 'her'."

Reluctantly, he let go and walked past him, mumbling for him to follow.

Obediently and in a jovial manner, the Rokubi followed. "What? You aren't going to try and explain yourself?"

"Why should I explain anything to you?"

"I do have some amount of influence over her." There was a moment of silence. "O.k. so I don't really have that much influence most of the time, but she's pretty unstable at the moment. I could probably do anything right now and she wouldn't even realize it."

Kakashi closed his eye while he walked. _She's 'unstable'? How bad must it have looked? I didn't do anything. I just need to talk to her for a minute. She'll understand, I'm sure._

The Rokubi was staring at him intently as they walked. "You're thinking about how you're innocent and how Mika will understand, aren't you?"

He opened his eye and glared at the demon in disguise to his side. "What's your point?"

"Heh, for being a player, you sure don't know a lot about a women. Or Mika more specifically." Kakashi slightly raised his eyebrow at the statement. "Oh? Did you want me to tell you how Mika's been paranoid about her relationship with you? Or how her paranoia was confirmed when she saw you with that soulless ginger-chick? Or about her complete emotional breakdown when she finally came out of the shock that it sent her into?"

"Stop talking." Kakashi looked forward again.

"What? Is it getting to be too much for you to handle?"

"No. We're at the front gate. There's Naruto and Sakura. Didn't you say that you didn't want them to find out about you?"

"Hmph. Yea. Guess it's back to playing human again for me."

"Just don't talk. You suck at 'playing human'."

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**Review for me? Yes, yes. Review for me!**

…**Not that I have a political message or agenda, but last night was freakin awesome! New President! Thank god!**


	45. The Death of Sparky

**Mika acts all tough, but she's really a crybaby; not willing to fight for crap. Yea, too many people are all tough and fight for things but Mika would rather cry. Problem with that is, when she cries she make stupid decisions that just cause her more pain… maybe she's a masochist and does it on purpose? Also, the name Mika means: Beautiful Splendor and Hana means: Flower.**

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Chapter 44: The Death of Sparky

"Let's stop here for the night." Kakashi ordered as the group flew through the trees. "We'll continue in the morning."

"No!" Naruto shouted. "I'm not tired at all. And I'm not giving up!" He stood back up, about to head off on his own, when Sakura grabbed his arm.

"We have to be smart about this, Naruto. If Kakashi-sensei says that we need a rest, then we need to rest."

"Nah, I agree with my nephew here." The Rokubi walked up behind him and patted him on the shoulder. "We're stronger than the two of you,", he gestured toward Kakashi and Sakura. "we don't need the rest to catch up with them."

"You don't need the rest to catch up with them, but you'll need it to protect yourselves. We're stopping and that's final." Kakashi ordered, glaring at the Rokubi.

Naruto huffed and threw himself down at the base of a tree. "We're going to lose their trail.", he mumbled.

The Rokubi sat down cross-legged next to him. "No we won't." Naruto stared at her from the corner of his eye. "You know that meditation thing your aunt had you doing?"

Naruto continued to kill rocks on the ground with his stare. "Talking about yourself in the third person is creepy oba-chan."

"Hm? Oh, right." Lucky for the Rokubi, Naruto wasn't that sharp. "Anyways, if you concentrate hard enough you can feel the general location of other people's chakra. It's not exact and there's no way of telling who's who, but it's useful nonetheless."

"Really?" He sat up straighter and tried to feel for chakra around him. "I'm not getting anything."

"Sucks to be you." The Rokubi stood up and brushed himself off. He had already checked to see if who they were following had stopped. "We've lucked out. It looks like they stopped for the night too."

"How do you know it's them?" Naruto looked up at his aunt.

"I'm just that fucking awesome." He smirked, but the smile faded as he looked down at the young boy with a face desperately searching for answers. 'sigh' "I don't know, I'm guessing that Orochimaru and his two lapdogs are going to be the only three people within a twenty mile radius of us." Naruto continued to stare silently. "….Christ! There are only three people within twenty miles of us and they're traveling together. I'm using my amazing powers of inference to deduce that it's them!"

"Oh…" The boy's shoulders slumped down. Really the only words that would make him happy would be an affirmation that they were going to find Sasuke; not the 'subtle' explanation of how some random ability works.

"Naruto." Kakashi called him. "There was a stream not too far back. Go get some water." Naruto nodded and took off.

"Hey, where'd Sakura go?" The Rokubi looked around and realized she was gone.

"I sent her to get some wood for a fire while you were so delicately explaining your amazing powers of inference to Naruto." The Copy-Nin snapped.

"Geez you don't have to be such a smart-ass about it." The Rokubi stated as he sat back down.

Kakashi sat down against another tree, opposite the demon possessed Mika. "When is Mika going to come back?"

"Fuck if I know." Kakashi continued to glower at her. "Honest! I don't know! The last time she did something like this it was because her brother died, and she was out of it for a few weeks."

"What brought her back that time?"

"Nothing special. She was just ready to come back I guess.", he twitched.

Kakashi's gaze narrowed on the uncomfortable entity.

The Rokubi took a deep breath. "Alright, I wasn't going to mention this cause in all truth it freaked me out a bit, but about 6 miles back Mika did say something to me… like she'd given in to fate or something like that."

"What was it, what did she say?" He ordered.

"You're not going to like it." The demon shook its head back and forth dejectedly.

"Why would she say that?"

"No, that's not what she said!"

"Then answer my question! What did she say?"

The Rokubi adjusted himself where he sat on the ground. Glancing off to the side he muttered, " She said: 'I'm going to break his heart.' "

"What was that?"

"I'm going to break his heart!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Whose heart are you going to break, Mika-chan?" Sakura had returned from her errand and had only caught the last part of the conversation.

"I said 'her' heart, dear. I'm going to break 'her' heart."

"Whose?" The young girl seemed genuinely concerned.

Smiling sweetly at Kakashi he answered her, "Your sensei's ex-girlfriend."

"Kakashi-sensei had a girlfriend before you!? No way!"

"Oh yes, way. She's a real knockout too. Red hair, green eyes, perfect figure. I only just found out about her earlier today too." He giggled in an innocent manner.

"You never mentioned an old girlfriend before Kakashi-sensei." Sakura started to set up the campfire.

_Since when have I ever confided anything in any of my students, Sakura? Seriously…_, Kakashi thought to himself. "It was over and done with before you even graduated the academy Sakura." He pulled out his book and began to read.

"Ha! You're too funny sweetie!" The Rokubi laughed.

The next few hours were basically silent. Only a few nods and gestures shared between Naruto and Sakura, over food and sleeping arrangements. With the sun now well below the horizon and the two youngest fast asleep, Kakashi spoke up without looking away from his book. "You should get some sleep."

"I don't need the rest.", replied a soft, weary voice. Mika had come back into control of her body at some point during the long silence.

"You may be an immortal demon, but Mika's a human. Her body still needs to rest." He replied in his trademark dull and uninterested voice.

Mika was staring down at the ground. She didn't say anything for several more minutes. The moon was shining just like it had over a month ago; the night that Kakashi let her know how he felt and the night that Itachi promised to come back for her should things not turn out so well. She started to hum the same song that she had stuck in her head that night.

"If you're not going to go to sleep could you at least shut up? You're annoying me." Kakashi coldly snapped at her.

She stopped humming and wiped a tear that fell silently down her cheek. "Kakashi --"

He cut her off. "I swear to god, if you don't stop making noise I'll duct tape you mouth shut for you."

She wiped more tears as they fell. _I thought you wanted to break his heart?__ I said I was going to break his heart, not that I wanted to. You have no idea how painful this is._ She started to try one last time to talk to him. "Ka--" He reached into his bag and pulled out a roll of duct tape that he set down on the ground next to him.

The rest of the night was silent, not even crickets dared to chirp or birds sing as the sun began to climb over the horizon.

"Time to go." Kakashi leaned forward and woke up Sakura, then telling her to wake up Naruto and pack up.

Mika was still sitting on the ground opposite of him. She stood up silently and threw her bag over her head, careful to not hurt her bum shoulder. The group took off again in pursuit of their targets. They were within range of them after a half hour.

"They've stopped." Mika alerted her teammates in a quiet tone.

"Do you think they know we're here?" Sakura whispered.

"I wouldn't put it past them." Kakashi turned and glared at Mika. "Where are they?"

She stared back at him sadly from behind her sunglasses and pointed to the northwest. "But there's only two of them now."

"What!?" Naruto growled. "Where'd the other one go?!"

"I don't know. But it feels like these two are waiting for us now." She slowly answered her nephew.

Sakura turned to their leader. "What do we do now Kakashi-sensei?"

"We go meet them. Best not to keep them waiting too long." He took the lead; the rest followed with Mika last.

They arrived in a flat, rocky clearing about half the size of a football field. There were two cloaked figures standing opposite. They weren't Akatsuki cloaks, just plain dark purple instead. Kakashi called out for them to show themselves. They only started to walk forward in reply. Mika stood silently behind Kakashi while Naruto and Sakura took defensive positions on either side of him.

The two figures were now only 20 feet away. "Let me." Mika leaned forward and whispered in Kakashi's ear.

"Just stay back. This could get bad; I don't need you making it worse." His harsh deep voice adding more salt to Mika's wounds.

"…please." She gently placed her hand on his shoulder as she glided past him to face the robed men.

"Mika?" Kakashi took a step forward. He couldn't believe that she had come back and not told him.

"Yes?" Her answer was a heartbroken one.

He was in shock. "Mika, when did you--"

She turned away from him. "Last night. But since you didn't want to talk to me then, and now's not really a good time either, I'll talk to you when we get back to the village."

"What are we doing?!" Naruto shouted in apprehension of the approaching threat.

Mika looked over her shoulder at her anxious nephew. "Ya'll are going to fall back and let me hand this."

"Mika-chan! You can't possibly be serious?" Sakura voiced her concern.

_I don't have time for this!_ "Get back or I'll make you get back!", she snapped at the group, nearly growling.

"It's not going to happen, Mika." Kakashi quietly explained.

She turned back around and muttered to herself. "Heh, wish you had told me that a long time ago." Taking a deep breath she answered them, "Fine, just let me do all the talking here."

Upon seeing the young woman move to the front position, the robed men stopped. They were within hearing range. One of them let the wind dramatically blow their hood off. Before Mika, stood the snake sannin. "Hana… What a surprise. How's the shoulder?"

Mika scowled at the mention of her foolishly acquired wound from this monster.

_Gotta do this right. Can't let him know how weak I am right now. _

_You're not weak._

_Emotionally. _

_Oh well, in that case, best to bluff your way through it._

"Just fine, but the name's Mika now." She let flash a small grin.

Kakashi's eye narrowed in understanding. _So it was him. He's the one who stabbed Mika through her shoulder. What was she doing around people like him? Who else has she been around? How much more is there that I don't know about her!?_

The Sannin began to mock her choice in names. "Beautiful Splendor. What a dramatic change from Flower. Your mind must have dulled more than mine over the years." He sarcastically laughed.

Mika casually let her hands slide into her pockets. "Let's cut the chit-chat, kay? Why don't you tell me who you have standing there next to you already?"

Orochimaru made a slight gesture with his hand and the other figure removed his hood. It was Kabuto and the disappointment was apparent on everyone's face. "Oh? Just who were you expecting?", he hissed, mocking their downcast expressions.

"Where is he you snake!" Naruto shouted and charged forward, only to be stopped by his aunt.

"I'm sure your friend is fine." She whispered gently to him. "Now stop being so bull-headed and get back." Reluctantly, he obeyed. "So how's this going to end?" Mika called out in a blunt tone.

"Whatever do you mean? I clearly have the advantage here."

Mika couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Yea, right. You're a snake with a retarded Harry Potter wannabe. We have two Jinchuuriki, a Sharingan, and the best medic nin this side of Konoha. What damage could you possibly do?"

"How dare you talk to Orochimaru-sama like that!" Kabuto scowled.

Sakura looked toward Mika with an air of uneasiness and squeaked, "Umm, Mika-chan. I really don't think it's a good idea to piss him off."

"She's right Sparky. We don't want this to get out of hand." Kakashi supported her remark.

……_Sparky?....._, Mika repeated the pet name in her mind. Something had snapped inside and it wasn't good. Her hands shot down at her sides while bolts of continuous lightning shot into the ground. "You've got a very poor memory don't you Kabuto! Your master here almost died by these hands! Let's see if they can't finish the job, for old time's sake." Almost instantaneously a wall of solid steel shot up and carved a deep gorge between the two opposing sides; driving the snake sannin and his lackey back quite a distance.

Mika spun around and stared Kakashi in the face, throwing her sunglasses to the ground in the process, shattering them. No more than an inch separated them at that moment. "Don't you ever call me by that name ever again. I am not your 'Sparky'.", she hissed in a low and menacing tone.

--To Be Continued--

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**'sigh' Mika is almost as bipolar as Lilith. Crying one second, threatening and yelling the next. Let's just go with she's a typical girl, yea? (lol, i think i might be murdered in my sleep by my own gender now!)**

**P.S. Hehe, no one likes Kabuto. He's a lame ass character anyways. Too bad it's not in the cards for me to kill him off in this story. Review?**


	46. I'm Sorry

**Wah!!! Holy crap! I'm caught up now! This is the last chapter I managed to post before my story was removed. It took awhile, but it was worth it! And guess what… I'm gonna post the newest one next!**

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Chapter 45: Gomen Nasai, Lo Siento, I'm Sorry

If eyes are the window to the soul, Kakashi's were on the edge of shattering. "Mika… you don't mean--"

"It's not your place to tell me what I do and do not mean." Sparks started to fly about her causing her hair to flutter around in random directions. "Now if we're done here, I suggest we leave." She turned to shout at Sakura and Naruto, "Let's get out of here."

The wall of steel was rumbling forward and on the verge of collapsing on top of what was on the other side. "What do you mean, like, run away?" Naruto shouted back at her. "You just attacked them!"

"Yea, I know. It's a distraction… that I now have to prolong since ya'll insisted on talking." She grumbled and forced massive currents of lightning from her hands, aimed at the wall of highly conductive material. Embers flew in all directions, lighting all of the dead plant matter on the ground ablaze.

"Mika-chan! You started a forest fire! We have to put it out!" Sakura screamed.

Mika stared at her like she was stupid. "…'sigh' You do whatever you want. My nephew and I are going to run for it." She reached over and grabbed Naruto by the arm. "Give Smokey my regards." Mika took off with a slightly awestruck Naruto, struggling mildly in tow.

"Come on Sakura. We need to try and keep up with them." Kakashi ordered and chased after a clearly pissed off Mika. Sakura followed but kept looking back as the forest slowly became engulfed in flames. Who knew that such an aggressive and destructive pink-haired girl could be quite the conservationist?

As they arrived at the gates to the village, Mika let Naruto go. He had gotten so used to being dragged through the trees that at first he fell down in the dirt. "Ow! Oba-chan, what was all that about!?"

Mika was looking forward at the mammoth gates that guarded Konoha. _This is it. I'm going to march straight in there and confess my crimes to the Hokage. I'm going to be imprisoned and freed. And I'll protect Naruto the same way Itachi protects Sasuke. _

_Has anyone ever told you, you're a drama queen?_

She looked down at the blonde clone of her brother. "Naruto…" She kneeled down, looking him in the eye in a loving, almost motherly way. "I want you to have something."

"Huh?" He watched her dig through her bag and pull out a small picture. "What is that?"

"It's a picture of all of us." She smiled softly, pointing out and identifying everyone in the photo. "I pulled it out of that photo album we 'retrieved' from Tsunade. You see, there's your mom and dad right in the middle."

"Geez, why is she so fat?" He pouted pointing at the image of his mother.

Mika giggled, "That's you, dumbass." She continued pointing everyone out. "There's Jiraiya standing behind them, with his arms over their shoulders."

"Hah! And that's you!" He laughed out. "What are you doing sitting on the ground laughing and pointing at the camera for?"

She smiled somewhat sadly. "I tripped while standing still, just how that happened I'm not sure. And I'm pointing toward the camera because it made Kakashi laugh. He's the one who took the picture."

It was silent for a few moments before she looked up to see Naruto staring at her with a concerned look in his eye. "Why are you giving me this, oba-chan?" She leaned forward catching him in an embrace. "Mika, what's going on? What's wrong?" The concern grew in his voice.

She let go and stood back up, facing the village. "I think I'm going to have to leave you for a while."

"What!? No!" He jumped up and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "W-why?" He scrambled for words.

Mika sighed into his hair, "Keep that picture with you, m'kay?"

"Of course, but--"

"And please remember one thing." He looked up at her expectantly. "Remember that I love you and will never do anything to hurt you." She pried him off of her and walked into the village without him.

"Mika Oba-chan…" He was left there dumbstruck and brokenhearted, the picture Mika gave him, held tightly in his grasp.

"Naruto!" Sakura called out to him as she and Kakashi finally caught up. She looked him in the eye. "What is it?" His eyes were brimming over with tears. He wasn't stupid. He knew he was losing his family, all over again. Shocked, she turned to look toward her sensei only to notice he had never stopped. He was following Mika straight into the village.

Mika was already past the gate when she heard Sakura's shout. _Damn they're fast._ _And loud!_ She kept walking, taking broad strides on her path to the Hokage's mansion. Turning a corner, she stood face to face with two people that she did not need to see at this moment.

"Aw, you look upset. Is everything o.k. Blondie?" The red-haired one laughed and then turned to look at her friend. "She's too shocked to answer me, Anko."

"How pathetic." Anko responded and motioned to allow Mika to pass the two of them. "Hurry up and move! Lilith and I have better things to do than stare at your ugly mug all day."

Mika let her gaze fall down to the ground beneath her feet. "You win." She mumbled sadly.

"I don't want to listen to your pathetic attempts at communication, you reject. Just get away from us!" Anko snapped.

"Hey wait." Lilith put her hand on Mika's shoulder. "What was that? You said something, and cause of this loud one," she motioned to Anko, "I couldn't hear you. Please say that again."

Mika took in a sharp breath and looked them timidly in the eyes. "You win. Both of you win." She walked away, continuing in the direction of her destined destination.

"Well, what a fortuitous meeting." Lilith smiled ear to ear, flipping her shining red hair dramatically. "It was wonderful seeing you again Mika."

Anko laughed at Mika's sad face as she walked past them. "Yea, wonderful seeing you, but don't make it a habit!" The two callous women laughed obnoxiously for a while after Mika left before turning around to see Kakashi standing over them in an imposing manner.

"Oh!" Lilith was shocked in a positive way. "Hey baby." She spread her arms open and moved forward for a hug. He grabbed her wrist and spun her around, griping hold of her. "Ah, uh, sweetheart this hurts… and not in a good way." She tried to laugh his aggression off.

He leaned in close to her ear. "What about 'It's over' do you not seem to understand?" He twisted her arm.

"Ah! Stop!" She banshee woman screeched.

Kakashi could care less about her comfort at the moment though. "A few more centimeters and your arm shatters in more places than you can count. Which way did Mika go?"

The woman was silent for a moment. "…She doesn't want you anymore. What about that do you not seem to understand?" She breathed heavily with a strained look on her face as the tendons and muscles of her arm were stretched to their limit. Anko stared in motionless horror at the scene in front of her.

"Fine, be that way." Kakashi grimly avowed, snapping her arm. One could hardly hear the series of cracks, over the scream of pain that came from the red-haired harlot as she fell to the ground clutching her disfigured appendage. "Which way?" He looked up at Anko. She immediately pointed in Mika's direction. He stalked off, leaving the two women; one in physical agony, one in emotional distress.

_What was that?_, Mika thought as the scream of an incredibly distraught individual reached her ears. _It kinda sounded like… eh, never mind._ The notion left her mind quickly as she reached the front steps to her destination. She stood there quietly. Gazing at the large, exquisite structure, her eyes drifted past and came to rest on the Cliffside monument. _I'm so sorry brother._

"Mika." Kakashi had caught up to her and grabbed a hold of her hand. "Mika, whatever you may have seen or--" He was cut off by her placing a finger across his masked lips.

"I get it."

He reached up and took her other hand. "You do?"

"Yea… you don't love that other woman."

"Exactly." He sighed with relief and held her tightly in an embrace.

"But you don't love me like that either… do you?" Her voice was calm… her emotions numbed.

"W-what? No, of course not. I mean, I do. Love you, that is."

Mika pushed her way out of the hug. "Come on. I want you to hear this too." She held his hand and led him inside.

"Mika, did you hear me?" She kept leading him up the stairs, not looking back at him. "Mika, hello? I said, I love you. Mika, I-Love-You."

She reached the door to Tsunade's office and reached out to open it when Kakashi stopped her.

"Mika!" He held her arms firmly at her side but looked at her softly. "If for whatever reason I led you to believe that I didn't care for you, I'm sorry. You have to believe me when I say that the only reason I might have held back from you is that I was afraid." She fidgeted in his grasp. "Mika, I was scared that I would screw up this perfect relationship with you. I was terrified that if I admitted that I loved you with all my heart, that it would all be ruined. Please don't look at me like that." In response, she looked away from him. "Mika…" He reached out and held her cheek, bringing her eyes back to him.

"…fear?" She asked incredulously.

"Yes." He answered her one-worded question. There was silence as he reached down and kissed her. "I know it was--"

Mika had heard enough. If she didn't have common sense, at least she had determination. "Liar."

"Huh?"

"Liar. Now come on." She opened the door to Tsunade's office and marched right in, dragging Kakashi behind her. "Tsunade-hime, I need to talk to you."

"What's the meaning of this? Can't you see I'm busy right now?" The woman looked up irritably from her desk. Shizune had left her alone to finish stacks of paperwork.

"You're not too busy for this." Mika let go of Kakashi and reached into her pack, pulling out the mysterious black bag.

Tsunade took another gulp of the drink that was on her desk. "What is it? Did you two want to get hitched? Or did he already get you knocked up and it's a little late for that?"

The awkwardness spread faster than the flu at a child daycare center. Kakashi slowly shook his head in his hands while Mika grasped the black bag against her chest and looked up at the opposite corner of the ceiling. After several moments of this pervading discomfort, Mika broke the silence. "Perhaps in an alternate reality, but no. Neither of those two situations is ours."

"What a bust! I thought this was going to be an interesting conversation!"

"Wha!--What the Hell!" Tsunade screamed as she realized that Jiraiya was standing behind her. "How long have you been there?!"

"He climbed in through the window while you were talking." Kakashi scratched the back of his head.

"Thought you noticed." Mika nodded in agreement.

"Well, I didn't! And you get the hell away from me! Move!" She pushed Jiraiya back. In anyone's opinion he probably was standing just a little too close. "Now what do you want!?" She commanded that Mika tell her.

_Shit…. Now Jiraiya is here. Two of the three most important men in my life are going to witness me testify against myself. ….shit!_

_Stand resolute my dear! What must be done, must be done! If Itachi could do it, then you sure as hell can too._

…_God, I don't know how he managed to do it._

"Um, right." She coughed to clear her throat. "I, uh, wanted…no, I needed to show you… all of you, I guess, something."

"Mika, what's wrong?" Jiraiya walked toward her but stopped dead in his tracks when she suddenly flipped the black bag over and dumped its contents out on Tsunade's desk. "M-Mika, where did you get that?!"

"It's mine." On the desk lay the trademark attire of an Akatsuki member and spinning on the wooden panels next to it was the signature ring that all members wore. This one had the symbol for 'west' on it.

_Mika… I-…You--…oh my god._ Kakashi thought to himself staring at the contraband on the Hokage's desk.

Mika surveyed the room, noticing the shock, anger, and disbelief shared among them, before sitting down in a chair next to Tsunade's desk. "Whenever ya'll are ready." She offhandedly informed them that she was ready to explain herself.

Tsunade's hand came to rest on Mika's shoulder. "Start talking.", the woman's grip tightened.

It took roughly five minutes for her to explain how she had come to meet Uchiha Madara, how she became a member of Akatsuki, and how she came to live in Kumo; effectively filling in the eight year gap that no one besides those involved knew about. By the end of her tale, Tsunade's nails were drawing blood from Mika's shoulder. "And that's everything.", she finished.

There was silence for several minutes, when Shizune walked in. "Tsunade-sama!" She stopped and gasped as she took in the sight. "Tsu-Tsunade-sama, what's going on?"

"Shizune, call a squad of ANBU in here immediately." Tsunade ordered and dug her nails deeper into Mika's shoulder. The girl only twitched slightly at the stabbing pain.

"Y-yes, right away ma'am." She rushed out of the room, desperate to leave the stagnant, dark atmosphere.

Jiraiya turned around and leaned against Tsunade's desk, facing away from the Mika and the evidence. Kakashi did the opposite. He stayed facing everything, staring intently at Mika in particular. Three ANBU guards showed up and bowed in front of their Hokage.

"Take this woman and lock her up. I want a watch on her at all times."

"I wouldn't try to run away." Mika attempted to stand up, but Tsunade's nails would not allow it.

"I want her questioned by Ibiki and no one else. I'll be there to check on her progress personally in a few hours. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama.", the three bowed and one reached forward, roughly pulling Mika from Tsunade's grasp.

"Oh and one more thing.", Tsunade reached out and snatched the hitai-ate from around Mika's neck; throwing it on top of the pile on her desk

Mika couldn't prevent a slight 'ah' as her arm was twisted around to keep her bound. Against her better judgment, she looked up at Kakashi. "I'm so sorry." She whispered as they tied her hands behind her back.

"No. I'm the sorry one." He replied as he walked out of the room.

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**A couple of edits were in this one, really just trying to make the main ideas more clear. Yay, I'm gonna go work on the next one and post it for ya'll. I'll be expecting loads of reviews for the next one seeing as how neither my new or old readers have read it. :)**


	47. Changing

**Yay! NEW CHAPTER! I don't really know what else to say about it, but yeah. I've waited over a month to post it and now I get to work on finally finishing the story instead of editing the crap out of it.**

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Chapter 46: Changing

"So…"

The Toad Sage looked up across the desk at his old teammate. In his grasp was the small ring that fell out of Mika's bag. He was flipping it over and over in his hand. "So?"

Tsunade was tracing the red cloud pattern of the cloak that lay across her desk. "What now?" He shrugged his shoulders in response. "I want to trust her, but by her own words; she is untrustworthy. She's admitted, with proof, that she is a criminal. How am I supposed to deal with that?"

"We should have kept a closer eye on her.", the old man mused sadly.

"She's hardly been out of anyone's sight since she got here. Always with Kakashi, Gai, Kiba, or Naruto."

He shook his head. "No, back when the Nine-tails attacked. Someone should have been keeping an eye on her. Instead we just assumed she was dead, letting her fall into the darkness… all alone."

"… You can't stay stuck in the past. It'll only hurt more that way." Tsunade logically explained just as much to herself as to her good friend. To dwell in the past is to never have a future.

-With Mika-

_Do they have to be so rough?!__ I can't blame them. They're only doing as they were ordered. __You can't, but I sure as hell can._

One guard led the way as the two others took turns pushing Mika forward down the dimly lit corridors. It was a quick walking pace and given the time that had eclipsed since she had last seen the light of day, they were probably about 2 and a half miles from the main basement of the Hokage's mansion. No one spoke and it was quiet, except for Mika who had to listen to the Rokubi complain.

There was a right turn coming up where the cells were. _Finally! I thought these tunnels would never end!_ But as the escort and their prisoner approached, two slightly differently dressed ANBU soldiers appeared and halted their march.

"We'll be taking the prisoner from here." One of the two stated.

Mika's lead escort raised his hand in front of him and argued with him. "We have very explicit orders from the Hokage. She's to be held here until her questioning by the head of interrogations."

_What's going on?__ I don't know, but I don't like it._ Mika kept her head tilted down, but her eyes watched the situation unfold.

"I understand that soldier, but our orders supersede the Hokage's. They come directly from the council. Stand aside."

Again the leader of Mika's escort group intervened. "Mind if I see some proof?"

With a somewhat irritated voice the first one nodded, "Not at all." The second one pulled out a small scroll which contained all the appropriate documentation.

After looking over it carefully, the leader responded. "And Tsunade-sama and Ibiki-san have been informed of these changes?"

"Of course.", the first one gestured in a reassuring way.

"Alright then, she's all yours." He turned and grabbed Mika by the left arm, jerking her forward and causing her to tumble into the grasp of the new escort. "Let's go.", he ordered his team and they turned to leave.

Mika couldn't stop herself from disputing these new arrangements. "Wait! You can't!"

"Sorry, democracy sucks, huh?", the old escort leader waved casually over his shoulder and walked around the corner.

"Let go of me!", she screamed as the new escort restrained her.

"Quit!" The one ordered. "You wanna be like that, then fine.", he let go momentarily. Mika spun around only to have the guard knock her over the head; the other one caught her as she fell to the ground.

"Well, that went easier than expected.", she heard the one that caught her chuckle, before she lost consciousness.

She woke up to find herself lying on a cold, concrete floor, with her bindings now gone. It was pitch black and the only sound was that of her breathing. "Oh god,", she held her head. "Where am I?"

_Mika! MIKA! You have to get out of here!_

"What? Why?" She sat up against one of the walls and waited for her eyes to adjust to the pitch black darkness.

_I can't move!!!!_

"What do you mean you can't move? Since when have you moved? You exist in my head." She rubbed her temple gingerly, where she was struck.

_Please Mika! You have to get out of here! It's this place. IT'S DARK!_

"No shit, Sherlock. What else is new?"

_MIKA! I'm the fucking incarnation of lightning! I am LIGHT! _

It took a moment for this to sink into Mika's mind. "Wait, are you saying that I don't have access to your abilities?" She tried to summon up a spark to light up the shadowy room, but to no avail. "W-what? How is this possible?"

Suddenly a door opened and through it walked an older man with a small candle to light his way. The two guards that had taken Mika from her preferred escort followed him inside and shut the door behind them. "Look at the floor." The older man pointed to the ground. Mika's eyes followed. In the now dim lighting, she could see an intricate pattern that covered the ground beneath her.

"What is this?" She asked, awestruck. _IT'S BAD! I'm so scared. This isn't right, it's not natural. I'm not supposed to be scared!_

"It's a restrictive sutra. It renders your bad habit of electrocuting people, inert."

With the new lighting, Mika scanned over her confines. The room was roughly 8 feet by 10 feet with a 12 foot ceiling. The markings on the floor, extended about halfway up the walls as well. Where the markings stopped, there was a series of 3 unlit torches attached to the wall. The man with the candle now moved forward and lit the three sconces. The room quickly became illuminated and she could clearly see the three men.

"Do I know you?" Mika asked the man with the candle. He had bandages covering his forehead and his right eye. "You look familiar." She stood up and started to move forward. The next thing she knew she was on the ground coughing heavily from a hard punch to the stomach. She looked up and saw that one of the guards had stepped up and effectively stopped her approach.

The old man kneeled down in front of Mika and grabbed her chin, pulling her close enough to hear him whisper. "When we are done here, you will tell me whatever I want to know."

Something about his tone of voice set her off. "It'll take a hell of a lot more than a punch to the stomach to break me." She snarled. _What the hell is wrong with you!? Don't piss off the boss man!__ Sorry, I don't know why I did that. He just made me mad._

The old man didn't even smile; he only stood up and left the room. Mika watched him shut the door, leaving the two ANBU-like guards inside with her. The one that had punched her tightened his fists while the other cracked his knuckles and grinned.

-Back with Tsunade-

"How long have we been sitting here?" Tsunade mumbled to Jiraiya with her head on her desk.

"Mmmm, I don't know. The sun set about an hour ago, so…. "

"So why are you still here?" She growled, realizing that she had spent the entire afternoon with him.

Jiraiya looked up at her. "You said you were going to check on Mika. I wanted to go with you."

"Oh, right." She suddenly remembered and looked off to the side. "I wonder why Ibiki hasn't come and let me know how the interrogation went." She stood up and shouted for Shizune, who came running in immediately. "Go tell Ibiki to get his ass over here right now!" The assistant bowed and rushed back out as quickly as she had come in.

"You've always had a way with words, Tsunade." Jiraiya chuckled.

"Hmph.", she crossed her arms.

Ibiki walked in with his usual air of intimidation, not that it would have even been noticed by the two sannin. "You wanted to see me, ma'am?"

"Yes, how come you didn't report in after the interrogation?"

He took a second to respond. "Interrogation?"

"Of Namikaze Mika. She's being held down in the catacombs beneath the city." Tsunade had a worried tone in her voice. _If she escaped…_, she thought.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but I was not informed of such an appointment."

Jiraiya covered his eyes with his hand. _God, what now?_, he thought to himself.

Tsunade exploded, figuratively speaking of course. "Shizune!!", she shouted.

"Yes ma'am.", she rushed into the room, already fearful for whoever's life she would be sent to fetch.

"Where are the guards that I sent Mika with?"

"They returned less than an hour after you sent them, Tsunade-sama. I believe now, they are back at their regular stations."

Jiraiya looked at Tsunade from the other side of her desk. She looked back, the two of them sharing the same thoughts. The Hokage closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself. "Ibiki you are dismissed. Shizune I want you to order a lockdown of the entire village." She reopened her eyes. "No one gets in or out… go!"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama.", the small woman rushed to sound the alarm while the large man bowed respectfully, turned on his heel and left to his post.

Tsunade started to walk out of the room with Jiraiya following close behind. "If she's not down there when we go check on her …"

He wanted to say something reassuring like, 'Of course she is. She said she wouldn't try to escape.', but he couldn't bring himself to do it. There was too much uncertainty now. He had lost faith in her words.

-Back with Mika-

Mika was lying on her side, her arms spread in front of her. The ground was no longer cold as it had been when she first woke up hours ago. Nor were the markings that confined the Rokubi's power visible anymore. A thin sheet of her blood now hid them from view. The two 'interrogators', if you could call them that, had only walked out of the room a few minutes earlier. She had lost count of how many times she heard or felt a bone snap or her flesh tear. There were gashes and bruises covering her entire body. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to not breathe. Decisions, decisions…

_Is this it?_, she thought as loudly as she could because her mouth didn't want to move. Her jaw was swollen and probably broken, but then what wasn't. Her usual quick healing was severely dulled without the Rokubi's help.

_I…I don't know._, the typically energetic entity responded hesitantly.

There were sounds coming from the other side of the door. A quick 'thud' followed by the sound of metal striking the stone walls and another 'thud'. It was silent for just a moment, and then there was the quiet clicking of a pair of footsteps coming closer and closer to her location.

_Do you think the man has come back to ask me questions?_

_No, how could he expect you to talk in this state? Maybe it's the angel of death, come to take us away from our pain and misery._

_We've got issues don't we?_

…_yea._

The heavy door silently opened, pushing a small wave of partially coagulated blood across the floor.

_It's an angel alright._ Mika looked up to see a pair of bright red eyes looking down at her. On the floor behind him were two dead bodies, looks of confusion and fear spread across their lifeless faces. _Come to fulfill his promise to me._

The man knelt down and brushed a stray lock of hair away from Mika's face. Her eyes looked at him expectantly. He sighed heavily and shook his head. "I'm not going to say it." She closed her eyes and tried to smile; it hurt to smile.

He looked her over, noting the extent of her injuries, and very gingerly lifted her off the ground, carrying her out of the room. Almost immediately after crossing the threshold of the doorway, the Rokubi's chakra started to flow freely again. The cuts began to close and the bruises fade away. A few minutes later, after being carried a small distance, Mika's eyes flashed open as she took a deep breath. She looked her savior in the eyes, smiled, and looked all around her.

"Are you wondering where you are?", he asked.

Her gaze fell back to him. "No.", she wiggled and noting the familiar gesture, he let her fall onto her own two feet, now healed. "Just wondering where Aquaman is."

"I didn't bring him. And I don't think he'll appreciate being called that."

She cracked the tiny bones of her wrist as they healed. "Yea, well. It won't matter for much longer anyways." She stretched her arms out above her head. "Dead people don't care what you call 'em."

Her red-eyed angel raised an eyebrow. "Dead?"

Mika was looking down at herself. Covered in blood, both fresh and dry, she wasn't at her best. "Yea. I figure it's the fastest way back into Akatsuki. Kill your partner, take his place, etcetera, etcetera." She looked back up at him. "Unless you have a better idea."

"No, I just thought you liked it here. I thought you didn't want to come back." He started to walk down the hallway; Mika followed.

She took a second to think of what she wanted to say. So many different things flashed through her mind. The friendships she had rekindled, the family she was reconnected with, the love… that pierced her heart… and left it shattered… wandering about… looking for excuses as to 'why she wasn't good enough'. No. It wasn't a bad love. It was beautiful, so simple, and perfect… while it lasted. But it was over and done with now. He had betrayed her, and she had betrayed him. The universe had balanced itself out and she would go back to where she belonged, by the side of the devil that nurtured her talents and fostered her hate for those that hurt her. "I didn't like it here. I loved it here. But that's all in the past now." Another second passed. "Also, they beat the shit out of me when I fully cooperated with them. That's just bad manners."

Without glancing back at her, he commented on her demeanor. "You're putting up quite the front."

"Would I be me, if I didn't?" She smirked and caught up with him. "Now then, just where in the hell are we, comrade?"

"Inside the secret tunnels beneath the ANBU Root Headquarters. This tunnel in particular leads to an old listening post outside the city walls." An unreadable smirk spread through his eyes. "Aquaman is waiting for us there."

Mika stopped walking. "I can't." Her comrade stopped and looked back at her, questioning her statement. "I need to fetch a few things right quick." She pointed over her shoulder, "That way'll lead back to the village?"

"What do you need?" He seemed intent on going his way.

She grinned, "A nice change of clothes."

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**The next chapter is about halfway done. Might take another week, but hey, at least we're all caught up now. :) I hope Mika's decision was clear. I also hope that I didn't completely piss people off for kinda/sorta giving away Itachi's secret type thing. Unless you read the manga or like spoilers (raises her hand for both) and already know about it. If you're confused let me know, I think I might have been too subtle in parts.**


	48. A Vengeful Cover Up

**Rokubi: Hello again my devoted followers! Yes, I'm addressing you this evening instead of the mind to which I belong. For some reason she thinks she's an artist and is super excited over drawing a new character for her next story. Poor girl doesn't know any better. Don't worry, I'll keep her on track to make sure I get a good ending before letting her loose on her next tale. She was mumbling something about making it KibaxOC or maybe NarutoxOC. …meh. I could care less… (sniffles) It's not like I'm in it. (starts crying blatantly and stuffs mouth with some of Jackie's birthday cake) O.k. ya'll, read this next chapter and know that Jack put lots of effort into it. **

**Also, if it wasn't already obvious, there are a lot of manga elements in this story. Namely, the fact that Itachi…. (spoiler: will finish this sentence at the end of the chapter. Don't wanna know? Don't read; the bottom A/N or the story anymore.)**

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Chapter 47: A Vengeful Cover-Up

"God damn it!", Tsunade cursed as she returned from the holding cells beneath the Hokage's Mansion; they were empty. "Where are those guards that I sent with her!", she demanded.

"Calm down, if you get all freaked out. It won't help anything." Jiraiya carefully tried to reason with the enraged blonde.

"Don't you fucking tell me to calm down!" She threatened him with her fist; a formidable threat to say the least. "We've got a former Akatsuki member loose on the streets, and you're telling me to calm down?"

"The guards are on their way Tsunade-sama." Shizune exuded an air of calm compared to the other attendants who were rushing back and forth, issuing assignments at a hurried pace to all of the village's active duty ninja. If you recall, the village was under lockdown. "Here they are, ma'am.", she announced quickly.

The three guards bowed in respect to their Hokage. "You called for us, ma'am?"

"Yes," she approached them menacingly. "I want you to tell me where in the hell Mika is!" Their faces, though covered by their animal masks, most undoubtedly showed dread. "Speak!"

The leader stood and faced the beyond angry woman. "Per the council's orders, she was relieved of our watch." Tsunade's stare remained unchanged, so he continued. "As we were about to confine her to her cell, two soldiers, under signed orders from the council, took her from us. We were told that you had been informed of the change and had agreed to it." A moment passed and the ANBU guards realized their mistake. "Our apologies ma'am. We should have come to you immediately with this news."

Tsunade took a deep breath and let slip one word, "Danzo."

"You don't honestly think…?" Jiraiya's worried expression resonated with Tsunade.

"I do think.", she turned on heel and marched out of her office; the entire room emptying out after her.

-One Minute Later-

"Thought they'd never leave.", Mika hopped inside the window to Tsunade's office. Her savior followed behind her. "There they are. Right where I left 'em.", she smiled and picked up her old uniform off of the Hokage's desk.

"Hurry up.", her red-eyed angel mumbled as he kept watch out the window. On the street below them, he could see Tsunade, Jiraiya and their posse rushing toward where they expected to find Danzo and the council members.

"Kay.", she started to take off her clothes to change. "Don't turn around."

"Nothing I haven't seen before." He continued to watch the village ninja rush around outside.

"… haha. Well, I guess you're technically right there." She slid on her black knee high boots with the rubber soles. They aided her by keeping her electrically grounded. No more debilitating weakness to squirt guns.

He glanced over his shoulder, back at her, as she was throwing the classic red and black cloak over her simple black mesh and cloth ensemble. "Technically is the wrong term."

Mika smiled at him with one of those 'I remember the good times' smiles. "So, how do I look?" She spun around in a circle, the open robe flowing around her. It was a good look for her.

"You're missing something." He walked forward and reached across Tsunade's desk, grabbing her hitai-ate. He held it up between the two of them. "Do it.", he ordered.

Mika sighed hesitantly, but knew it had to be done. "I have to live the kind of life you have now, don't I?"

The man stared back at her coldly as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a kunai. "To protect them.", he stated his own creed. "You can't do this halfway. Otherwise they'll figure it out."

Mika nodded and with one quick swipe, the symbol of Konoha, which she couldn't bring herself to mar before, was sliced in half. "Happy?"

The dark-haired man ignored the sarcasm and dropped the headband into her hands. "Put it on and let's go." She did as she was told while he walked over to the window. "We're likely to be caught if we head back into the tunnels. We'll have to go straight though town."

Mika walked over and stood beside him. "I suppose we'll have to make an appearance as well?" The red-eyed angel nodded silently and led the way.

-With Tsunade and her posse-

"There you are, you son of a bitch!" The furious Hokage shouted as she caught sight of the old man named Danzo.

_Dear lord! This woman knows no bounds!_, Jiraiya thought as he turned the corner after her. Danzo was walking down a nearly abandoned street, escorting the two elders of the village. Strange thing to do in the middle of the night, no?

"Where is she?! What did you do with her?!" Tsunade threatened him despite the presence of the elders.

"Tsunade-hime!", the elder woman scolded her. "What is the meaning of this?"

"You just shut the hell up!" Tsunade snapped and turned her attention back to Danzo. "What did you do with Mika?"

Danzo merely shook his head slowly from side to side. "I don't know where she is. But neither do you, so why don't you go find her and bring her back to my custody."

The busty blonde stood there shocked that that old man would speak to her like that. "Your custody? She was supposed to be in mine."

"No, Tsunade-hime." The male elder intervened. "For someone as 'special' as Mika, your way of containing her was inadequate. Danzo informed us of your misjudgment and we ordered him to take Mika from you."

The Hokage was about to burst out with another rage filled statement when the night sky was lit up with an amazing burst of lightning, temporarily blinding those below who had been used to the darkness. The group down at ground level looked up to the nearest rooftop to see two silhouettes standing over them. Their faces couldn't be made out, but their presence was overwhelmingly ominous. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and their ninja attendants instantly went into defense mode, noting the hate-filled existence. The two elders gasped as they were not used to being in the middle of the action. Danzo stood motionlessly, knowing all too well just who it was standing on the roof.

"Did you order him to torture me as well?" A cold feminine voice called from above.

Jiraiya's eyes adjusted to the darkness before everyone else's. His voice filled with astonishment and sorrow. "…Mika. Why?"

"Mika!?" Tsunade was more angry than shocked at what she saw. Standing one level above them was Mika dressed in trademark Akatsuki garb. Her eyes partially clouded over with faint bolt shaped markings leading from them down to her jaw line, the nails of her fingers turned to black claw-like shears. Just as shocking as her appearance was who was standing next to her, it was none other than the unmistakable Uchiha Itachi.

"Yea, hi." Mika glowered down at them, her lengthened canine teeth noticeable now, and took a step toward the edge.

Instantly, Tsunade's attendants rushed forward to attack before the criminal could get too close to their Hokage. If you had blinked, you would have missed it. Mika made a quick flash of hand signs, and up from the ground shot paper thin sheets of diamond as sharp as scalpels and as fast as bullets. If Mika wasn't considered a traitor for abandoning her village, she was certainly considered one now. Scattered about the ground between the two Akatsuki members and the leaders of the village, were the vertically cut slices and chunks of what used to be several skilled ninja, whose only crime was trying to protect their Hokage from an impending attack… or at least that's what they thought Mika was about to do. Poor bastards didn't know any better.

The blood from the several bodies sprayed in all directions, covering the village elders, the two sannin and the leader of Root in a fine mist. Jiraiya looked over his shoulder as the two elders, struck motionless in terror. "Get out of here, now.", he calmly ordered them. They didn't need to be told twice; they snapped back to reality at the sound of his voice and frantically ran away.

Mika watched them start to run away and took the opportunity to get rid of Tsunade in the least troublesome and most convincing way possible. She smirked and using one of her claws, she cut open her hand, allowing blood to flow generously from the appendage. "You ever see The Birds?", Mika directed the question to Tsunade.

The older woman just stared at Mika's bleeding hand apprehensively. Though she was no longer hematophobic as she once was, she could tell this was going somewhere very bad, very fast.

Mika blinked twice out of annoyance for not being answered. "I'll take that as a no." He held her hand out to her side, facing the ground. A pillar of earth shot up out of the ground, through the roof of the building she was standing on, and made contact with the palm of her hand, completing the summoning jutsu. There appeared a great, bright white cloud of smoke; the sound of screeching emanated from it. The two elders of the village were still in sight and Mika made eye contact with Tsunade, explaining to her that what happened next was for her to deal with. From the white cloud erupted a massive flock of crows, the lesser cousins of ravens known for their cruel and savage demeanor.

The birds swirled into the sky, blocking out the moonlight. Mika watched the birds with a motherly gaze. "I think they're hungry.", she turned her attention down the street and as if on command the horde of carnivorous winged beasts careened down to street level, chasing after the elders.

"God damn you, Mika!" Tsunade shouted as she raced after the birds, desperate to save the two old bastards.

"Hurry up.", Itachi whispered into Mika's ear. The sadistic blonde ran a hand through her hair, nodded and jumped down to ground level to join the two remaining men.

"Mika, stop it." Jiraiya shook his head from side to side. "Not like this, please." The old man motioned like he wanted to reach out to her, but he held himself back, not quite willing to come into contact with a soul so disturbed.

She took a few steps forward and stood alongside the Toad Sage. Looking to her right, she quietly gazed into his eyes. "Admit it. Deep down, you could always see this in me." A moment passed as she kept her peripheral sights on Danzo. "Stay out of my way, Jiraiya-sama.", she put her full attention back to her target and began to move forward again.

Danzo stood motionless, staring at the near approaching threat. Mika slowly reached out for his eyes with her claw, but at only a short distance from her objective, she found she couldn't move forward anymore. Wrapped around her tightly was the tongue of a rather large toad. Its grip lowered her extended arm to her side, completely restraining her. She craned her neck to the side and growled. "Release me."

"I still don't believe you are truly like this, Mika." The old man spoke sadly. "I can't let you go."

"Wasn't talking to you.", the blonde grumbled, gesturing to the rooftop where her comrade waited for her to finish.

Itachi called to her. "Didn't I tell you to hurry?" Mika continued to snarl, but whipped her attention back to the front when she heard the sound of motion in front of her.

"What's the rush?" Kakashi landed just to the side of Danzo. "Going to drop another bombshell on us?"

Being restrained, on an adrenaline high and still determined to follow through with her revenge, Mika snapped back at the sarcasm of the Copy-nin. "Oh yea, like you and your other lover."

His revealed Sharingan eye squinted slightly in anger. "Lilith is a stupid whore that I stopped seeing ages ago. Not a criminal organization that I belonged to and clearly still do.", he noted her change in apparel.

The blonde wistfully looked away. "What's a mountain to you in merely a molehill to me and vice-versa. At least I didn't blatantly lie to your face, like you did to me.", she added a stinger to the end of the prideful statement.

He shook his head in disbelief. How could she stand there and honestly accuse him of lying when her lie was much more serious? "Omitting the truth is the same as lying."

Mika tensed inside her restraint. "No, it's called keeping a secret. I never kept from you the fact that I had an ex, but it was clearly in your agenda to keep me in the dark about your past because you wanted to eat your cake and have it too. Just out of curiosity, are there any other current lovers of yours in the woodwork? Not that it matters to me anymore, because we are clearly over."

"Stop your bickering." Danzo barked at Mika, as if he had some power over her.

"Fuck you, you fucking son-of-a-bitch!", she tried to lunge forward despite her predicament. "I swear to God when I get free, I'm gonna cut your throat and bleed your fucking corpse dry!"

The Root commander turned his attention to Kakashi, who was somewhat taken aback by Mika's outburst toward the old man. _What could he have done to warrant such intense feelings from her?_, he asked himself before he heard Danzo talking to him.

"You are a shinobi of Konoha are you not?" The grey haired man just looked back at him. "She is a criminal who has already killed several of your comrades. It is your duty to kill her." Kakashi's eye slightly widened at the remark. Mika stopped struggling and thought over the statement herself.

There was one solid moment of silence before Jiraiya broke in. "Danzo! You can't be serious; we are not going to kill her!"

"And why not, Jiraiya-sama?", Danzo started to walk around Mika's still form. "Look around us." He gestured to the dead bodies surrounding them. "Look at what she has done." He pointed up to the roof where Itachi was still waiting for Mika to finish. "Look at what she has brought down upon us." The elderly man was now standing directly to Mika's right. "Were she anyone else, I have no doubt you would have already tried to kill her yourself."

The sannin was determined to hold his ground. "You're right. But she's not anyone else. She is Namikaze Mika, the Fourth's sister and we are not going to kill her… right Kakashi?" He looked over to see that Kakashi had moved and was now standing directly in front of Mika; he was holding a kunai against her upper right jaw. "Kakashi! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"There's nothing wrong with me for wanting to protect those I love." His voice was low and hushed compared to the shouting that was going on.

Mika scoffed at the statement. "And here you are, poised to kill me when all I'm doing is the exact same thing." He pressed the sharp knife into her skin harder, but no amount of blood spilled.

"What are you talking about?"

The trapped girl closed her eyes to think for a moment. _You have no idea how much this hurts… but to protect all of you, I'll do anything. _

_Mika, I know I don't agree with you very often, but you're doing the right thing here._

_Yea, lying got me into this mess and its lies that will get me out. _

_Kay, now's not the time for sarcasm._

…_really? I figured now is as good a time as any. The love of my life is holding a knife against me and everyone hates me. Might as well cement that hate right now._

She slowly opened her eyes and looked right at Kakashi. "I love myself and myself alone. Self-preservation is something I've become quite good over the years." Her eyes dodged quickly to the position of his kunai. "By the way, thank you."

"Huh?" But before he could react, Mika turned her head to the side, using her mouth to grab the kunai out of his hands and launch it into Danzo's exposed throat. A gargled mess of screams escaped from the old man as he fell to the ground clutching at his neck. The geyser was quite magnificent by any standard. Kakashi and Jiraiya both jumped back in the nick of time as Mika let out a massive surge of electricity, more than enough to fry the toad that was restraining her. Poor froggy.

From the haze of light that still hung in the electrified air, Mika shot out and knocked Kakashi back into a nearby building's wall, pinning him against it. He stared into her eyes with both of his open. Expressions of shock, anger and sorrow were shared between them in those few seconds. And just as quickly as she had pinned him to the wall, she kissed him lightly through his mask, sending the slightest spark with it.

…_Shit. What the fuck did I just do?_

_You're gonna blow our cover you stupid whore! Run! Run dammit!_

The conflicted blonde whipped around and jumped back to her place with Itachi on the roof. "Ready to go?", he asked her. She nodded solemnly and the two of them disappeared into the darkness.

_Don't you ever call me a whore again, do you hear me you bastard?_

…_sorry. But you got me all riled up. Seriously, what the fuck was that?_

_I couldn't do it. I couldn't just leave like that. It was the best I could do to let him know that I forgive him and that I'm sorry._

_Do you recognize that what you did was wrong?_

_Yea._

_Then you're forgiven._

_Thanks. … what? Wait a second--_

_Nope, you are forgiven. Now let's just concentrate on keeping up with Itachi-kun. Remember, Aquaman is going to be waiting for us and it would be best not to disappoint._

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**(spoiler: continued from A/N)…. Is a good guy who wants to protect Konoha and his little brother. That's why Mika is doing the same thing. To protect Konoha and her nephew, among others.**

**Rokubi: 'sigh' Jackie finished her fancy new character drawings... I told her they were ugly and looked like they had down syndrome, but she yelled at me about being insensitive and posted them on her deviant account anyway. Link's on her profile page. Also they're colored. Review for me or… or… I'll do something OoC!**


	49. Open Your Eyes

**Rokubi: Stupid ass Jack and her stupid ass drawings. Making me do all the work! Grrr…. Hello again loyal worshippers. Jack continues to think she has talent yet is too lazy to come up with an interesting A/N without me. At least there's a nice bit of fluff in this chapter. She can be counted on to entertain. Besides that she's a really stupid, stupid, stupid girl!**

**Jackie: (walks over and grabs 5 of his 6 tails and says threateningly) … Jolteon.**

**Rokubi: D-Did I say S-Stupid? I, uh, meant busy. Yea, you've been really busy plotting your next story and drawing pictures and working on this chapter too…. Please for the love of ME let go!!!**

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Chapter 48: Open Your Eyes

Kakashi slumped down to the ground, leaning back against the building Mika had quite literally thrown him into. Shock wasn't exactly the right term to use to describe him at the moment, but there was definitely some there. Not so much from the events that just transpired as from her kiss. It was something along the lines of what happens when you lick a 9-volt battery. You get a good shock, everything gets really vivid for two seconds and then it's gone. He rubbed his lips thoughtfully.

_Why the hell did she do that? One second she's mocking me and saying that she only cares for herself and the next she's kissing me like that and then taking off… What the fuck?! Do I have a sign on my back that attracts psychotic women? Something's going on and god damn it I don't know what it is._

He had kept his eyes fixed on a spot on the ground while he thought over the last five minutes in his head, trying to figure out what angle Mika was playing. The sound of heavy footsteps brought him back out of it.

"Come on." Jiraiya extended his hand down to Kakashi on the ground. The Copy-nin stared up at him for a moment before taking the help up. The two walked back out to the main street that was covered in death and early decay. "Were you really going to kill her, Kakashi?" He didn't receive a reply, so he pressed further. "Were you going to kill her? Answer me." The sannin grabbed the younger man's arm only to have it pulled from his grasp.

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair and readjusted his headband. "The idea crossed my mind." _There was something there, in what Mika said. She said she was doing the same thing I was; trying to 'protect'. She paused before she continued to say that she was only protecting herself. Why would she pause? I know she does that when she talks to the Rokubi… What were they discussing?_

"Jesus Christ… and here I thought you actually cared about her." The old man walked away and knelt down by Danzo's corpse. His throat was torn open in such a way that he really was completely drained of all his blood. Jiraiya examined the dead body and wistfully spoke toward it. "What the hell did you put her through to make her do this?"

Tsunade came walking around the corner. Her jacket was full of holes and her hair was a complete frazzled mess. The sight was enough to draw both men's attention. For someone who was so concerned with looking young and beautiful; she looked like crap.

Jiraiya stood. "The elders?", he asked.

The woman walked up to him and answered. "Some decent sized wounds and scratches. They'll need rabies shots and probably some counseling to take care of their post traumatic stress, but other than that, they'll be fine." She looked down to see Danzo's corpse. "Which one of you did me the favor?"

"Mika did it." Kakashi informed her. "I should have seen it coming but she was too fast."

"Oh well, things happen in battle." The Hokage shrugged her shoulders and looked back up at her surroundings. "I take it she got away." The two nodded. "And Itachi too?" They nodded again. She took a deep breath and put her hand on her hip. "God damn it, I need a drink."

Jiraiya snorted a half-hearted laugh in response. "Me too."

An ANBU messenger arrived, bowed curtly to his Hokage and then stood to deliver his message. "Ma'am, we have a problem."

"Really?", she stated sarcastically. "I couldn't tell standing her amongst the dead bodies of about half a dozen of my attendants." She spread her arms out to exaggerate her statement. "What is it now?"

"It's Naruto." A collective '_Fuck_' went through their minds.

-What Happened with Naruto-

It was around 11 o'clock when Tsunade's lockdown order finally reached Naruto's ears. He had been picking at his bowl of ramen for the last few hours. To say the least, Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, the restaurant owners, were worried about him. He was still on his first bowl.

"Naruto!", Sakura shouted for him. The blonde looked up from his bowl as his teammate and two ANBU that came running into the ramen bar. "What are you doing here!? Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what?" The boy looked back at his cold ramen dejectedly.

This did nothing but frustrate Sakura to no end. She walked over to him and pulled him up out of the chair by his collar. "Lady Tsunade has ordered a lockdown of the entire village."

Naruto continued to stare at the pink-haired girl blankly. "So?" His lack of energy and concern almost frightened her.

She suddenly came to a realization… he hadn't heard any news of anything since Mika left him at the village gates that afternoon. "Naruto…", she started calmly. "The Hokage had Mika incarcerated, but she escaped and everyone is looking for her."

Naruto's eyes refocused upon hearing what Sakura had to say. "W-what?" He pushed her away, breaking her grasp on his collar. "Why would the old woman put her in prison?!"

The ANBU escort Sakura had come with started to move forward. It was for this exact reason that they came. Naruto was not going to like the news and even though Sakura was freakishly strong and his friend, there was no telling what kind of stunt he might try to pull.

"Naruto, she…", She didn't want to say it, but blindly forced herself anyway. "Mika was a traitor. She was in Akatsuki." Her green eyes searched his blue ones for a sign that he understood, but none came.

In an almost serene manner, Naruto quietly paid for his uneaten meal and walked right past the three messengers. Sakura rushed after him and caught his arm; spinning him about to face her. "Naru-", he cut her off.

"Mika is not a traitor. I don't care what you say, she swore that she loved me and would never do anything to hurt me and I believe in her."The blonde boy stormed off, Sakura and the two ANBU followed like lost puppies. "Stop following me!", he shouted back at them.

"Stop walking away from us!", Sakura shouted back. Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out the picture, Mika had given him. Clutching it tightly against his chest, he took off at a sprint. "Don't let him get away!" The pink-haired girl and her escorts chased after him.

…_**Boy…**_, the Kyuubi tauntingly spoke to Naruto while he ran. _**Let me… help you. **_

"No, dammit!", he shouted as he ran, red chakra already starting to leak out.

"Naruto! Stop!" Sakura again shouted, she and the other two were gaining ground on him. They were running along the edge of a training field when the boy took a sharp turn heading straight into the middle of the arena; one full tail had formed. _Oh god, no!_, Sakura's eyes widened. She turned to the nearest ANBU operative and gave him an order. "Go find Lady Tsunade! Tell her about Naruto." He nodded obediently and left the chase.

_**BOY!**_, the Kyuubi roared out. _**Let me… OUT! **_Naruto lost his footing and tripped. The picture in his grasp fell to the ground only to be swept up by the wind and carried a small distance to the entrance of the field. Two great tails whipped around him and a third was struggling to form.

"Don't let the tails touch you!" Sakura and the remaining ANBU kept their distance. There was nothing they could do to help. All they could do was watch as Naruto's flesh was literally being burned off by the Kyuubi's power.

Not two minutes later, Tsunade, followed by Jiraiya, Kakashi and the other ANBU, arrived at the entrance to the training field.

The Hokage turned to her former teammate with a questioning expression. "Yea, yea. I got this.", Jiraiya waved off her look and started to walk forward to take care of Naruto. Tsunade and the messenger ANBU watched intently, but Kakashi's gaze had fallen to the ground. He bent down and picked up a picture that had been carried over by the wind. It was the picture Mika had given Naruto.

He stood back up and held the photo at eye level. _Heh, she wouldn't stop fidgeting so she tripped. Afterwards she told me she fell down on purpose to make me laugh. I called her stupid and she yelled back that she wasn't a fool… she said that she may act stupid, but she always does things for a reason. _His thoughts transitioned to the current situation. _What possible reason could she have for doing something as stupid as going back to Akatsuki? ……_

Jiraiya came walking back holding a barely conscious Naruto in his arms. "We gotta get him to a hospital, Tsunade."

The blonde Hokage nodded and moved forward to lead the group to the hospital but as Jiraiya carried Naruto past, the young boy started muttering in his semi-conscious state. "..No, she's… not, ever. She promised… never hurt me, love me. Protect me, she swore."

That last part drew Kakashi's attention from the picture. "Wait, what was that?" He reached out and held Jiraiya's arm to stop him from carrying Naruto away any further. "Naruto?" The boy's eyes squinted open slightly. They were incredibly unfocused but they opened nevertheless. "What did Mika tell you?", Kakashi pressed further.

"She'll protect me… she promised." His head rolled off to the side. "Did she lie?"

Tsunade suppressed the urge to affirm the poor boy's fears, but was shocked to hear Kakashi's confident reply.

"No, she didn't lie. Mika will always protect you." The silver-haired Jounin smiled under his mask and patted Naruto on the shoulder.

"Knew it… Sakura's an ugly, flat-chested liar…" Naruto smiled widely and fell back into unconsciousness.

A brief moment passed before Jiraiya readjusted Naruto in his arms and started to walk away again. "Well, I guess I better hurry up and get him to the hospital. I got a feeling a very interesting story will be waiting for me to get back?", he looked back at Kakashi.

He nodded assuredly and looked back at the picture in his hands. _You're not a fool Mika. You're protecting Naruto… you're protecting all of us aren't you? I won't let you do this alone._

-Outside of Konoha-

"You just had to do that didn't you?" Itachi grumbled after several minutes of silence. He and Mika had rushed out of town, avoiding the search parties and anyone else who might pose a threat. "You couldn't have just left it alone?"

Mika was painting her nails a nice shade of purple while they walked through the forests that were spread throughout the countryside. "It's not that big of a deal. I seriously doubt he got the message anyway. Sixty percent of the time, Kakashi is really, really dense. Besides, even if he understands that I'm not turning my back on them; how could that be a bad thing? It's like Konoha getting its own pair of eyes on the inside of Akatsuki."

Itachi sighed deeply. "In short, he might try to do something as stupid as you." Mika huffed at the mention of her stupidity. "We'll talk later. Right now, you have to take care of Kisame."

"Me? You mean you're not going to help?" She was blowing on her nails to speed up the drying process. She didn't get an answer. They were within earshot of Kisame now and Itachi didn't want to risk the blue man's loyalty, should Mika get herself killed. "Fine, don't answer me… freak."

"Who the hell are you calling a freak?" Kisame walked over from behind some trees. "Itachi, who's this whore and why is she wearing a robe like ours?"

The Sharingan user glared at his current partner and introduced the girl. "This is Mika. She's a member who's been on hiatus for quite some time. Leader-sama asked her to return to active duty recently."

Mika walked confidently up to Kisame and offered her hand to shake. "Hello, Key-Samm-Ay." She smiled happily in an attempt to diffuse any distrust from the aquatic humanoid. _Take my hand, take my hand dammit!_

Reluctantly, the criminal began to reach out with his hand, but stopped short and pulled it back. "You look awfully familiar."

"Oh?" Mika played it off lightly. "Well, I can assure you that I've never seen you before in my life. It's nice to meet you." She took another step forward, gesturing for him to take her hand yet again.

He only leaned forward to examine her face close up. Instinctively, Mika leaned back; personal space issue. "Hey! No, I have seen you before!" He walked away from her and toward Itachi while keeping his finger pointed straight at her. "Itachi-san, that's the girl that was with the Copy-Ninja in the forest. What the fuck? She's one of us?" Itachi blinked and nodded slightly in approval of the statement. "Damn!" Kisame turned back to Mika. "You're one cold bitch aren't ya'? Cozying on up to that Konoha ninja only to stab him in the back." He sneered and walked right up to her, offering is hand to her. "It's a pleasure!"

Mika's eye twitched after hearing that she was being spied on in the citrus grove that she thought was private. She was so thrown by this information that she didn't take Kisame's outstretched hand and missed her opportunity to end his life quickly. A near endless chakra supply is completely irrelevant if your heart is turned to ash before you get a chance to use it.

Kisame raised an eyebrow at her curious reaction. He looked over his shoulder at his partner. "Hey, do you think she's broken?" Itachi looked past the fishy character, noticed that Mika had finally managed to regain most of her composure, and looked back at him; shaking his head back and forth negatively. "Huh?" The large blue beast heard a strange crackling sound coming from behind him. He craned his neck to the side to catch a glimpse of one of the strangest things he had ever seen.

Mika would have looked positively evil were it not for the fact that she was blushing and the expression on her face was one of utter embarrassment. "… you bastard." Her hand shot out around his throat. "You pervert!"

Poor Aquaman was so caught off guard that while one of his hands tried to scratch at Mika's claw the other couldn't decide between reaching for his sword or pointing at Itachi. "Ita… i-dea!", he managed to squeak out.

"What?!", Mika squeaked in reply and looked over to Itachi. He walked over to the side of the two of them and unsheathed his katana.

Itachi rolled his eyes at Mika's disbelief. "Do you really?", he asked her. "Here." Itachi handed her his sword. The girl snatched the sword from his grasp and instantly sent a constant charge of over 100,000 volts into it.

"Wha?!", came Kisame's strangled reaction to seeing his partner hand the woman holding him by the throat, a deadly weapon.

Mika sighed, "I would have killed you with my flock of crows but I don't like to use a technique more than once in a day." She ran the electrified sword through his chest. It went all the way through and knocked Samehada off of his back onto the ground. "It would have been so much more dramatic." After about three solid minutes of electrocution, Mika let him go. The scent in the air was something similar to a fish fry during Lent.

The blonde put her foot on the dead man's chest and used her leverage to pull the katana from the charred remains. Some of the flesh had fused to the metal which made it mildly difficult. "Did you seriously spy on me in the woods?" Mika used a corner of Kisame's robe to clean off her new-again partner's sword.

"Inadvertently.", Itachi answered her and took back his weapon.

"How in the hell do you 'inadvertently' spy on someone? …wait, no. I don't wanna know." She waved her hand in the air dismissively. "Let's just get out of here. I'm starving."

He turned and started to walk away, Mika followed. "You're welcome.", he mumbled sardonically.

She caught up and walked alongside him. "Don't you sass me, boy. If I wanted your help I would have asked for it." Mika raised her hand like she was going to smack him. "Anyways, I'm older than you and you should show me some respect."

"Hn." Itachi continued to walk without so much as glancing at her. "You're physically older, but not mentally, woman." Mika took a breath like she was preparing to perpetuate the argument, only to let her shoulders slump forward in a sudden depression. "What is it?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

Her chin nearly against her chest she thrust her hands into her pockets and continued to walk along the path. "It's just… 'sigh', never mind."

Itachi closed his eyes in frustration. "No. Get it out now before we get to headquarters. We can't afford you breaking character once we're there."

He didn't need to warn her twice. She wanted nothing more than to express her feelings at moment. "That little argument we just had, it reminded me of how he and I would talk." Mika looked up at the treetops. The sun was starting to rise and along with the deep green of the trees, were the oranges, purples, yellows and blues of the coming day. "I guess I just miss him… that's all." She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. "Sorry, I know that's really girly of me. Sorry."

"No, don't be." Itachi reached up as they passed a peach tree and handed her one. "It's normal for someone to long for another. Humans are social creatures."

Mika pulled out a knife and started to cut the fruit into pieces. It was round and it was orange-ish in color… but it wasn't an orange. It was nothing more than a barely suitable substitute. "You make it sound so cold. Besides, I think I stopped qualifying as a normal human being when I had this demon implanted in me."

He stopped walking and looked over at her. "Is that all you see yourself as? Something inhuman?"

The blonde cut out the pit in her peach and threw it down the path. "Don't start this conversation with me." Itachi continued to stare at her with a blank, demanding expression. She closed her eyes briefly and then snapped at him. "I've got FATE written on my forehead! People have purposes and mine is to eventually die for my existence!" She took a deep breath. "The least I can do is add to my fate and try to protect those who have become important to me."

"But that doesn't make you any less of a human being." He slowly sat himself down on a tree stump and looked up at her. "You're still a normal girl."

Mika rolled her eyes exasperatedly and sat down on a medium-sized boulder on the other side of the path facing him. "Yea I guess you're right… I have another consciousness in my mind. That just makes me a schizo, right?"

Itachi's dark eyes looked at her kindly. "No.", he chuckled lightly at her sarcasm. "You don't have schizophrenia. You've definitely got some self-esteem issues though. And I wouldn't doubt some intimacy problems as well."

"Jeez, what'd you do? Get a psychology degree while I was away?" She fidgeted on the rock; messing with her hair and avoiding eye contact with him. _Am I that transparent or is he just that good?_ _He's good! Why do you think I love him so much?_

"Come on." He prodded. "The first step is admitting you've got a problem… or in your case, problems." Mika continued to fuss, refusing to share his gaze. She was being as stubborn as a terrible two year old. "One way or another…", he mildly threatened.

In order to avoid a nice trip to the Tsukuyomi universe to relive and learn from her several mistakes, with an exaggerated huff she cocked her head to the side and looked back at him. "I have a problem." Itachi coughed, insinuating a mistake. "Sorry… problems."

"What are they?", he leaned back in his seat.

Mika propped her arms up over her head. "I… uh, curse too much. I'm not a healthy eater. I… uh…" Itachi glared at her with his sharingan. "I consciously overreact to things all the time and I avoid dealing with this problem."

The red-eyed angel blinked slowly, allowing his eyes to return to normal. "Why do you do those things?"

"Cause cursing makes me sound confident and ramen tastes too damn good!", she smiled widely but all she got for it was Itachi standing up and walking away. Her expression changed dramatically. "Hey! Where're you going?!"

The blonde shot up from her seat after him only to be greeted with a cold stare. "Avoidance is omission and omission is lying. I don't deal with liars." The hurt in his eyes, whether it was acting or not, broke right through her.

"I-I'm sorry." She looked down at the ground.

"No, I'm the sorry one."

_God no! Not again. Please…_ Mika fell down to her knees and latched onto the bottom of his robe. "I don't know…", she pleaded. "I don't know why!"

The man knelt down with her and brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. "Try."

"Maybe… I do it cause I'm afraid of being judged and found guilty for just reasons. So I sabotage myself before that can happen and I do something rash. Maybe in my mind that gives me some kind of amnesty from the situation and I uh… I'm not to blame if I just make a big deal about some other issue…" She nodded her head and looked him in the eyes. "It's not my fault if something pushes me over the edge."

Itachi held her head in his hands and looked into her eyes kindly. "This right here is the edge, Mika." Her eyes, beginning to overflow with tears, frantically tried to pull away from his gaze, but they were trapped in their depth. "Are you trying to tell me that this strong, intelligent, beautiful woman in front of me is incapable of holding her ground?"

Mika reached out and held onto his sleeves as if they were lifesavers. Her breathing became heavy and short, while her mouth tried to form the word 'YES'. But something inside her was stopping her voice from manifesting. "I… I, ye-", she choked on her attempt to deny herself any control over her life. "NO!" The realization shook both of them, Mika more emotionally; Itachi, literally. Mika had a grip on his arms and upon her exclamation she pulled him closer. "No, I am not incompetent! I am not inadequate! I am not weak!" Though the poor girl's eyes were held firmly shut by this point, tears continued to escape from their corners.

Itachi's hands fell from her face and wrapped around her back, pulling her against his chest. He nuzzled past her hair and whispered in her ear, "Then stop acting like it." She took a deep sobbing breath and threw her arms around him and held on like her life depended on his very existence. "Shhh…Shhh…", he comforted her. "It's o.k. The world is still the same. All that's changed is that you've opened your eyes a bit more than you're used to." The lips, from which such sweet words came, pressed lightly against her cheek.

Almost instantly, Mika recoiled from the affectionate touch. "Itachi.", her voice was quiet and in shock. He continued to hold her tightly, leaning his forehead against hers. The biting cold of the metal of his headband could have made steam from the contact with her flushed skin.

"I know… I know." His soft, steady voice whispered into her lips as he kissed her gently. Several seconds passed before Mika's heart couldn't take it anymore. She broke the kiss and let her head fall to her chest, tears falling to the ground in the space she created between them.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry." The broken hearted blonde kept mumbling. _I'm so sorry Kakashi, I'm so sorry… I miss you so much. God, how I wish things were different. I'm sorry…_

Itachi slipped his hand underneath her chin and picked it up. "I know… Me too." For one whole moment, he smiled at her. "Come on." He stood up and extended his hand down to her. Gratefully, she took it and stood with him. "He's luckier than most." The Uchiha commented after helping her up.

"So am I." Mika added. "So am I."

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**Rokubi: …… Only you could turn Itachi Uchiha, an S-Class missing nin and member of Akatsuki, into mother ****ing Dr. Phil.**

**Jackie: (holds up an Eevee pokemon card with a lightning element card) Last time I checked Dr. Phil was not a sexy criminal. What the fuck's wrong with being emotionally mature, huh? I had to make at least one character in this story Sane!**

**Rokubi: (Referencing the cards) Do you seriously still own that crap?! (shakes head sadly) God, and I'm from inside that same mind… **

**Jackie: Quit it already. You're only upset cause you know where the story is going to end up and you're not happy about it. **

**Rokubi: Yea I know! It's gonna end soon! Review for me, my minions! You never know which day could be my last! …especially with such a mental as my creator!**


	50. Patience

**Hi ya'll. It's been awhile since I last posted… inspiration has been hard to procure, at least as far as this story goes. Not to sound like an apocalyptic prophet but, The End Is Near! Even though I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Mika, her being my first OC in all, I'm kinda sick of her now. I'm all about Watari Kara (the surname is only a working one… might change or become irrelevant) now. …Yea, Kara is gonna be awesome.**

***Rokubi jumps up from behind the couch and screams* I'm so telling Mika on you!!! *runs out of the room***

**(shakes head and rolls eyes) If any of ya'll are anti-time skip… sorry, but one is coming up. This chapter is on the short side, but I figured I just need to post it and move forward. Review! I must know how I'm doing… (blame the paradox that is my self-esteem)**

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Chapter 49: Patience

"Fan-fucking-tastic…", Tsunade mumbled under her breath as she reached across her desk for her sake bottle. Jiraiya beat her to it and moved it out of her reach. "Bastard.", she sneered.

"At least I'm not the only one." He answered her, turning his attention to Kakashi who was sitting on the other side of the Hokage's desk as well. "I'm sorry… I won't say it again, but that was a really stupid thing for you to do."

The Copy-nin was rubbing his visible eye. No sleep for the last 24 hours and none in the foreseeable future either, was starting to get to him. "Thought you weren't gonna mention it again.", he grumbled. _I wish he would focus a bit more on the whole 'Mika's not bad and needs our help' aspect… not the 'I'm an idiot for not telling her about Lilith' part._

"Yea, but come on, man." The old man leaned forward to exaggerate his words. "It's like the number one rule of women! Don't lie to them, it never works out."

"And what about when they lie to us, huh?", he rolled his eye after realizing how much of a completely loaded question that was.

Unfortunately, Jiraiya was not a man to leave a question about his favorite subject unanswered. "What's wrong with you?", he laughed. "All women are no-good liars! Were you honestly expecting her to 'not' lie to you?" Kakashi looked up at Tsunade, ready to dodge incase a desk came flying in his direction. "Hmm?", Jiraiya turned around to look at the well endowed blonde.

She noticed the apprehensive stares. Sighing, she leaned back in her chair and covered her face. "I'm not in the mood right now."

Jiraiya turned back to the younger man with a smile and nodded quite pleased with himself, as if he had won the Chauvinist Pig of the Year award. A pencil went whizzing by the bridge of his nose, sticking into the door just before it opened. Shizune came walking into the office, a mixed near-unreadable look on her face.

"…Tsunade-sama…" The dark-haired woman slowly made her way to her Hokage's desk. The atmosphere of the room darkened.

"What is it now?" The blonde's gaze didn't bother to leave the ceiling. Shizune reached the desk and set down a single folder labeled, 'ANBU Root Operations'. Tsunade looked down at her desk and blinked slowly as the gravity of what the folder might contain sank in. "Is it…?"

"Yes, ma'am. This is what they wanted with Mika… what they started but were unable to finish." The woman couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with anyone in the room. "If I may ma'am…", she started.

"No. You may not." Tsunade reached for the briefing and flipped open to the first page.

--

-ANBU Root Operations-  
In Reference to the host of Rokubi-no-Raijuu

It has been decided that in order to promote prosperity and security for the village, that the Jinchuuriki known as Namikaze Mika, formerly Hana, will be taken into our custody and re-educated in her proper function; as a weapon for use by the village for the aforementioned reasons. In the event that the current Hokage becomes informed about this arrangement and is unable to accept this decree, he/she will be removed from office and the current head of Root shall assume the post, all in the interest of the village's well-being.

A separate and secluded cell capable of containing the Jinchuuriki safely has been prepared underneath Root Headquarters. The host's re-education will take place here under the strict watch of Root operatives. We have predicted that due to its nature, the process of re-education will take approximately one week to complete. The first half of this process will consist of physically breaking the 'will of fire' in the host's mind and body. However, if no significant progress is attained through this process by the 48 hour mark, use of psychological torture and forbidden jutsu will be authorized in order to ensure success. Upon completion, the host will be kept under locked guard and only allowed access to the outside world in times of need.

A cover story has already been established to explain for the host's disappearance. The current Hokage will be found guilty of negligence to the point of obscenity for the loss of the Jinchuuriki and shall be removed from office. His/Her replacement will be the current head of Root, all in the interest of the village's well-being.

--

Tsunade stopped reading at this point; she had read enough for now. "They had her for less than 12 hours.", she whispered under her breath gratefully.

"Tsunade?" Jiraiya leaned forward and reached for the report. Instantly, she flipped the folder closed and slid it into her desk drawer. "That bad, huh?" She nodded and turned to her assistant.

"Shizune, I want reconnaissance teams sent out. Have them keep their ears to the ground. The second they hear about any possible Akatsuki movement, they are to report in. Understood?" The brunette bowed and left the office. "Now all we can do is wait."

"For what exactly?", Kakashi did his best to hide the irritation in his voice. If it were up to him, they would have gone chasing after her.

Tsunade stood up and reached over to where Jiraiya had moved her alcohol. Pouring herself a drink, she answered him. "For the end."

-With Mika and Itachi-

The two were on the outskirts of the Land of Rain. It was overcast and drizzling, but they weren't getting soaked. Mika, very keenly, noticed this. She was waving her arms around, completely perplexed as to how it was possible.

_Genjutsu…? No. This cloak isn't made of some anti-moisture cloth type stuff is it?_

_No. God, why don't you just ask Itachi what's what? It'd be better than you waving your arms about like an idiot._

_Why are you grouchy now? We're with your precious Uchiha._

_I just finished reading the latest manga and I'm utterly dissatisfied. _

… _I don't wanna know how that's possible._

"Hey, Itachi-san?" Mika caught up to him, making a show of her dry sleeves.

"Hm?" He kept walking forward unfazed by her confusion.

She spun around, trying to hit some of the rain droplets. "I don't get it. How is it raining and yet, I'm not wet?"

"It's one of Leader-sama's abilities. He uses the rain to detect intruders in his land. We are not intruders; therefore he stops the rain from touching us."

Mika was silent for a moment. "Um… you're talking about the ginger kid, right?"

The Sharingan user glanced at her and then returned his gaze to their path before responding to her question. "The Akatsuki has changed a lot since you were last with us. He's not a kid anymore and it would be unbelievably unwise to call him that." A moment passed before he continued. "Did I mention how Madara has gone insane?"

The slight randomness of the question caught her off guard. "Did you mention what now? No, you did not mention that. What do you mean, insane?" The blonde was completely confused now.

The Village Hidden in the Rain was now in full view. "His personality finally split. You'll see." Itachi lead the way inside the village. There were a good number of people walking around, but the crowds split to allow passage for the two cloaked members.

"Itachi." Mika whispered. "What's with the people? I thought Akatsuki was top-secret." As she looked around, some of the village's ninja nodded toward her respectfully. The confused woman only tilted her chin up in response to them.

"Like I said, things have changed." He grabbed her hand and continued to lead her toward a large imposing tower in the middle of the village. "If you don't like it, then just cover your eyes." She did as he suggested, covering her eyes with her free hand. She then stifled a laugh; realizing the situation. "What is it?", the raven haired man rolled his eyes in frustration now.

Mika peeked between her fingers at him and giggled. "I just thought of something." He raised his eyebrows in a 'what-is-it-now' fashion. "Hehe… The blind leading the blind. Hehe…" The girl recovered her eyes and continued to be led by her companion.

"For being so depressed, you sure are having a good time." Itachi commented on her smiling face.

The blonde dropped her hand from her eyes and looked over at her comrade, a bright smile still plastered across her face. "When you force yourself to smile, you can fool your brain into releasing endorphins despite the fact that I want nothing more than to cry to my heart's discontent and go running back to my home in Konoha." This was spoken entirely in hushed tones to foil any eavesdroppers.

"Hn." The trademark response of the Uchiha clan came as her reply. "Look sharp.", he ordered upon catching a glimpse of blue hair at the entrance to the tower. Mika snapped to attention, letting go of his hand and putting on a stoic, bored expression.

The blue haired woman from the doorway to the tower and approached the pair. Her dull matching eyes silently questioned Mika's presence. Her gaze switched over to Itachi. "Where's your partner?"

Mika couldn't stop herself. She coughed in a somewhat obnoxious manner and timidly raised her hand. "Present and accounted for.", a small smirk appeared in the corner of her mouth. "You've gotten taller since I last saw you, Konan-chan."

The woman didn't pay any attention to the girl's clever chatter. Instead she pressed further toward Itachi. "What happened to Kisame?"

"You know, it's rude to ignore someone who's talking to you."

At this the azure eyed woman turned to the mouthy blonde and glared at her silently. Mika's blank face slowly morphed to one filled with daring confidence. _Gonna ignore me, eh? I'll show her. Hehe…_ But before she managed to take a single step forward, Itachi touched her shoulder. The signal was crystal clear. Mika let her head fall to her chest as she sighed heavily off to the side. _I could have taken that little girl. I'm about 10 years her senior for crying out loud!_

"Kisame is dead. This is Mika. You remember her as Hana, Konan-san." Itachi carefully formulated his words and tone of voice so as to calm the placid anger of the blue-haired woman. She sighed in a relaxed manner and finally turned to face Mika in an acknowledging way.

"It's so nice to see you again, Rokubi no Raijuu." Konan smiled lightly and gestured for the two of them to follow her into the tower. The hallways were dark but the main room was well lit.

Suddenly, an orange and black blur shot past the three of them. "Whoa! Whatthefuckwasthat?!" Mika spun around, sparks flashed around her arms in a self-defense.

Konan left the room, impassively signaling for Itachi to keep Mika there. She would be back in a moment with Leader-sama. "Mika,", Itachi grabbed her shoulder and spun her back around to face a strange masked, child-like figure. "This is--"

"MADA--" Itachi covered her mouth. But he couldn't hide the shock in her eyes.

"No, this is Tobi." He turned his attention to the hyper and twitching figure. "Tobi, say hello to Mika."

"Tobi says 'Hi!' Blondie!" The funny little dude lunged forward, embracing Mika in a great big bear hug. "Are you gonna be Tobi's new friend?"

Instead of answering him, the blonde just stared blankly with bug eyes. _What the Fuck? Are you kidding me? The fucking equivalent of the Prince of Darkness has gone MPD on me? … I-I don't know what to do!_

…_Hmm… I too am at a bit of a loss, but I think you meant DID instead of MPD._

"Yes, Tobi. She's our new friend. Why don't you go tell Deidara-san about her." Itachi pried him off of Mika and directed him toward the exit. The orange flash took off skipping.

"That was…" Mika's voice drifted off.

"Yes."

"So he's…"

"Gone insane. Yes. But that doesn't mean this is going to be easy. When you least expect it, Madara comes back."

Mika looked into Itachi's eyes with a tired look. "I guess all we can do now is wait."

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**Jack: Whelp… there ya'll go. Told ya' it was short. Next chapter is gonna be a jump forward, unless I think of something to fill in the time. It's not likely.**

***Mika comes marching into the room with the Rokubi snickering behind her***

**Mika: What the hell!? You can't end my story! It's timeless and unending! Like Young and the Restless or General Hospital! And who in the hell is this 'Kara' bitch?!**

**Jack: (rolls eyes) Oh hush up, you bubble headed beach blonde.**

**Mika: Screw you! You gothic, emo, prep, geek…Mutant thing you!**

***hair-pulling and nail-scratching ensue***

**Rokubi: Hehe, catfight. Review if you have an opinion about this chapter. We (yes, the collective entities that make up your functioning schizophrenic author) need to know if ya'll are still happy.**


	51. Nature's Way

**(YAYZ! Finalz iz over-z! …zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz hehe, I'm having a fling with the letter 'z')**

… **I just finished re-reading the last chapter (cause I do that a lot) and… I'm sorry. That was by far my crappiest written chapter… ever! Again, Sorry. I don't care what anyone says, it was god forsakenly awful compared to the rest of the story. All the more reason for me to write this chapter in a magnificent fashion, I suppose. (not to mention that this chapter has been floating in my mind since I started writing this story in February 2008)**

**The 'soulless ginger' reference was scammed off of South Park, so yea… it's not mine but I found it relevant to make the joke. FYI: Manda is the name of the giant snake summon. Also, in my intense concentration in writing this chapter… I kinda left Zetsu out of the story. Yea, sorry to any big Zetsu fans out there, but I was 2,500 words in and I forgot about him. So he doesn't exist anymore, despite the fact that he was present in earlier chapters. I think he's just a myth anyways, so it's no big deal. So saith thy master!**

**Also a quick re-skimming of Chapter 22: Promises will help if you get confused as to the happenings near the end of this chapter.**

**And one last thing (I swear). This chapter is LONG! So settle in wherever you are and get ready to enjoy this long-ass, academy award nominated chapter.**

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Chapter 50: Nature's Way

Five months had passed since the night Mika had abandoned her village for the second time. But neither the villages of the world nor the Akatsuki had wasted one moment in order to prepare for the impending onslaught.

The Hokage, Kazekage, and Raikage had come to a somewhat solid agreement to not be at each other's throats at the final battle. However the Tsuchikage stood resolute that his Earth Country did not need assistance to defend itself. As far as the Mizukage was concerned, well, no one heard from him. Being that he was incommunicado, it was just assumed that his position was the same as the Rock Village's Kage. In short, 'Screw ya'll, I'm kick-ass and don't need no help'. _Though his diction sure could use some._

-Our favorite heroine (or damsel, depending on your pov)-

"So… he wasn't kidding when he said that was his ultimate goal?" Mika sat with her chin resting on a large dining table, a gloomy, pale expression on her face and her arms stretched out in front of her playing a mock hockey game with herself. She was using an upsettingly familiar mechanical eye as the puck.

Itachi sat next to her with a similarly, though not unexpected, dismal appearance. He was doing his best to ignore the dead body in the room, from which Mika procured her makeshift toy. "Destruction is what he said. Since when does he kid around?"

A small smirk flashed momentarily across her dull face. "It just sounds so… cliché. 'Destroy the world and incite utter chaos!'", the excitement was glaringly absent from the mimicking of her sensei's words. Her right hand managed to get a goal past her left, knocking the ocular device to the floor. Mika stared at it for a moment with a child's longing to have the toy returned, before losing interest and quietly laying her head on the table, facing her black-haired friend.

"I take it you were upset?" He raised an eyebrow at her pouting face and lifted a hand, gesturing to their surroundings.

At the other end of the table were two tongues, pinned to its surface with white diamond shards. From them dripped a trail of blood that lead to two severed hands on the chair, a handful of teeth scattered around them in an alternating pattern. Itachi slid his chair back some so as to get a better view of what were the remains of Deidara on the floor.

In a huff, Mika picked up her head and slouched back in her seat. "He grabbed my ass." she growled under her breath.

"Oh… " From his improved vantage point, Itachi could clearly see where Mika had split the young explosives aficionado's skull and removed his mechanical eye. To think, something that could have defied the Sharingan was reduced to a mildly-disturbed woman's plaything. His gaze drifted a few feet to the right where the rest of Deidara's body lay in a… hmmm… "So you turned what I assume was his abdomen to a smoldering, flaky, soup-like mixture of flesh, organs, and… other bodily substances?"

She shifted in her chair a bit. "Did I say 'grabbed'? Sorry, allow me to reiterate." She cleared her throat and stood to retrieve her hockey puck. "He cornered me with his fucking firecrackers and then managed to simultaneously bite, lick, and suck on my ass." She gagged and had to take a moment to breathe after the foul taste of the words passed through her mouth.

_Christ, I've never…EVER… been so violated in my entire life._

_Hehe… Kinky.:P_

She was about to reach for her toy when there was a sudden change in the color scheme of the room. Standing next to her was a familiar orange-masked presence.

_Oh crap… sensei or brat?! _

_Either way, you're in trouble. Madara-sama might kill you or Tobi will cry and drive you to suicide. _

_Not helping! Besides, I'm just gonna blame you. You're my 'Get outta Jail free' card. When you get that urge to kill… you're unstoppable. (breaks into mental laughing at the Rokubi's inability to do crap w/o the aid of liquor or competent consent)_

_Oh, Ha-Ha. Don't look now, but he's moving._

Mika's eyes refocused and opened wide as the man reached down at her feet and picked up the fallen Akatsuki member's mechanical eye. "I think you dropped this, Mika." His voice was calm and grinding. Yes, this was definitely Madara.

The guilty blonde stuck out her hand and received the object with a scowl. "It wasn't my fault. The Rokubi, he--"

A wave of her sensei's hand promptly shut her up. "You made this mess." Mika gulped without moving even in the slightest… a difficult task indeed. "Clean it up and then come see me afterwards." Madara turned to walk away, shooting Itachi a quick glance on his way out.

After the elder Uchiha had left the room, Mika finally allowed her shoulders to drop. "Well, that was lucky.", she chuckled, wiping her brow. "For a second there I was sure I was in trouble."

Itachi stood and started walking past her. "You've been in trouble since you were thirteen, Mika." He stopped and looked into her eyes. "Hurry up and finish in here. It's starting."

"Yea, yea…" She walked over to the opposite end of the table and pulled out one of the tongue-kabobs. "Wait, what?" Mika looked back, but he had already left. _Crap… I'm really out of it. And GOD! Why does the human body have to be sooo fucking disgusting?!_

_I'm a very cleanly entity, unlike you._

_What you lack in physical garbage you make up for emotionally and mentally. _Mika used the diamond shard in her hand to push the severed tongues onto the floor. _Nasty, nasty, nasty!_

It took only five minutes for Mika to give up and decide that incineration of the remains would be a much more efficient means of cleaning up than continuing to mop up the sloppy innards of the dead body. "Hehe, burn mother-fucker… burn." She grinned as the electricity flowed from her arms down into the intended target on the floor. "Oops, better not forget the head." The endorphins released by the act of electrocution brightened her mood some. She turned around and fried the skull until the bones cracked, blood evaporated and flesh turned to ash.

_Can we go now? I want to get this party started already!_

_No. First I have to sweep up the ashes and I plan on taking as long as I damn well please._

_But… WHYYYYYYY!_

_I'm trying to delay the apocalypse for as long as I can. Who knows, these few extra minutes might be all my nephew needs to get strong enough to survive it._

_....whatever. Chop, chop!_

After sweeping up the ashes, and saying a little mock prayer for the hell of it, Mika left the room and joined the others in the main dining room.

"What kept you?" The blue haired paper queen sang in her usual bitchy tone. Next to her sat the orange haired God Realm of Pain; where the other bodies were was inconsequential.

"Murder and the mess it leaves behind." Mika's sarcasm went unrewarded as she took her seat next to Itachi. She looked down the table, noticing that there were only four of them seated. "Where's Madara-sensei?" She elbowed Itachi in the arm. He sighed dramatically and closed his eyes.

"You took too long." Pain answered her. "Tobi got hungry and went to go get some cookies." He made a gesture similar to Itachi.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before Mika couldn't take it anymore. "Look…", she placed her hands on the table in a calm, sincere fashion. "I'll be the first to say that Madara is our leader and I would follow him to the ends of the earth… but, Tobi has got to go." Pain and Konan stared at her blankly.

"How do you suggest we get rid of Tobi without getting rid of Madara?" Itachi turned to face her with a truly curious expression on his face. How she was going to achieve something as impossible as separating two personalities was something he would pay to see.

Konan laughed suddenly. "Well, that's easy!" Cue the raised eyebrows and Mika's raised chin; asking what idea the origami goddess had. "We beat it out of him." She had a few pieces of paper flutter about her for dramatic effect.

"Oh what? With that Paper-cut No Jutsu of yours?" Mika giggled and leaned back in her chair.

"You got a better idea blondie?!" Konan stood only to have Pain touch her arm, signaling for her to retake her seat; which of course she reluctantly did.

Mika coughed to clear her throat of her giggles. "Yea,", she raised her left hand as if she were asking a question. "Shock therapy." The sparks flashed with the same brightness as her smile.

"That'd only be a temporary fix. We'd have to physically and precisely alter his brain to make it last." The soulless ginger spoke up. "If you knock him out, I think I can manage a decent lobotomy sufficient enough to keep 'Tobi' away."

"Oh… uh, o.k. then. So we're actually going to do this?" Mika ran her fingers through her hair, getting them caught in a few knots. Pain nodded followed by Konan's lethargic nod and Itachi's classic shoulder shrug. "Kay." She looked up upon hearing a cookie hit the floor.

Tobi came waddling into the room with an oversized jar of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and a ridiculously full glass of milk. "Hehe, Tobi thinks maybe he has too much too carry.", he laughed to himself. Mika started to cry, covering her face. In reality she did it to buy herself a few more seconds to muster up some crocodile tears. "OH!!!" The orange-masked man rushed to her side, pushing between her and Itachi and setting the milk and cookies on the table, making a mess in the process. "Mika-chan! What's wrong?"

The blonde had her tears flowing and her story down. "Oh, hi Tobi-kun." She sniffled and wiped away another tear. "I-It's nothing… don't w-worry about it."

"Oh no, oh no. You tell Tobi what is wrong right now, Mika-chan. Tobi will make it all better." He pushed himself backwards, forcing Itachi out of his seat lest the Uchiha have to deal with a 'Tobi' sitting on his lap.

"Well…" Mika sniffled again. "It's just that… Itachi won't give me a hug. And I really need one!" Cue the waterworks.

"Ugh!" Tobi turned to face the standing Uchiha. "What is wrong with you Itachi-kun!? Can't you see that you're hurting the pretty girl!?" Itachi closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in response. Tobi swiveled around quickly and launched himself into Mika's arms. "It's o.k. Mika-chan. Tobi is here and he will hug you since Itachi is a mean stinky-face."

"You're so sweet Tobi-kun." Mika squeezed him tightly just before knocking him unconscious with a great big jolt of lightning. "And now you're out." She caught his limp body and laid him out on top of the table. "He's all yours." Pain stood up and began the procedure.

-12 hours later-

"Are you sure they're coming, Madara-sensei?" Mika asked from her position at the north-east point of the tower. The remaining Akatsuki members were stationed at different positions, facing the main hidden villages from which they expected an attack. Mika faced both the Hidden Cloud and Sound Villages, Konan faced the north-west and the Hidden Rock, Pain and his many bodies faced the south-west and the Hidden Sand. All that was left was for Itachi to face the Hidden Leaf. Madara sat at the top of the tower with a perfect view of every soon to come fight.

"Stop fussing and pay attention to your quadrant. I know they are all coming. There is no way any of them can refuse to appear." An evil smirk played across Madara's face. He had sent word to the main villages about Akatsuki, its existence and the challenge he posted. If the villages didn't send their very best to deal with them, then all of Akatsuki would deal with each village one at a time, wiping them off of the face of the earth. Seeing as how Akatsuki had already captured so many bijuu and were clearly immensely powerful, it would be foolish to not take advantage of an opportunity for every village to attack a common enemy at the same time…. Clearly.

Konan flew high above everyone else with her paper wings. "I see them." She informed Madara. "I've got 76 Rock ninja lead by their Kage."

"Then have at it my dear." Madara cooed lightly. "All of you have the order to attack on sight." Upon hearing their leader's confirmation as to their orders, the bodies of Pain leapt down from their positions and began to engage the Sand ninja that had come into their line of sight. There were 51 Sand ninja lead by Gaara.

_Dammit, I still don't see any Cloud or Sound ninja. Where the hell are they?_

_Ooooo. Mika, don't you sense them?_

_No. You're the genius ninja radar detector… remember? Who is it? Who's coming?_

_Seventy-five more seconds and you'll see._

_I don't wanna wait that long._ With that, she bit her thumb and very quickly summoned an eye in the sky. "Hey there buddy."

"Hey!" The large raven squawked and took in the view from the tower. "What the… what's going on? Where are we?"

"Calm down, Watari. A lot has happened, but right now I need you to be my eyes alright." Mika petted the bird while it fidgeted about.

Watari shook his head and ruffled his feathers, bringing himself down from his usual high energy self. "What do you need me to do, Mika?"

She smiled and whispered clearly and accurately to him. "First I want to you search for Cloud and Sound ninja. When you see them, inform me. Then I want you to look for my nephew. Once you find him, you tell me immediately. This is very important do you understand me?" The raven nodded confidently and took flight, tripping up a bit on his takeoff.

Mika sighed and rolled her eyes, looking over at her partner. "Hey Itachi, you see any Leaf shinobi yet?"

He nodded solemnly. "I count 67 Leaf ninja. Of which at least 4 famous Jounin, 2 sannin, and 40 ANBU." The blonde gulped and glanced back in her designated direction. Watari had caught sight of her targets and was signaling her like crazy. Her blood pressure almost instantly dropped in anticipatory anxiety. "What is it?" Itachi looked over at her out of the corner of his eye. "Do you have more than I do?"

Mika shook her head back and forth. "Nuh uh. I have three. You wanna trade?"

"NO TRADING!" Madara shouted over his shoulder at his students. He was a bit preoccupied watching the amazing and awe inspiring battle occurring between Pain and the Sand, and his attention went right back to it after his brief scolding.

"Why would you want to trade? Are you that scared?" There was a hint of worry in Itachi's voice. _Don't you freak out on me now. Remember the plan Mika. We have to destroy Madara. There are no second chances here._

Again Mika shook her head. "No way. It's just… well… I don't really want anything to do with the Raikage cause of how he treated me, Orochimaru is fucking creepy as hell, and I guess I just kinda figured you would want to deal with Sasuke." The blonde took a deep breath and reached up to put her hair in a ponytail. "But I guess Madara-sensei assigned me to the northeast for a reason."

The Leaf ninja arrived first and instantly Itachi went to work knocking them down as they worked their way up the tower toward Uchiha Madara. Two ANBU managed to make it past him only to be launched back by an electrical shock thanks to Mika.

"Itachi! Quit being so sloppy!" She scolded him mockingly.

The red-eyed man leapt backwards and pushed her to the side. "Pay attention to your own fight, Mika." In that instant a massive summoned snake bit down into the exact place she had been standing. She jumped into the air in an attempt to avoid the rest of the serpent's body slamming into the side of the great tower. Luckily enough, she managed to jump at the perfect height so as to land on its back and slide down its enormous length.

"God damn it." She cursed under her breath. "No, you know what? No. I'm not gonna deal with this bullshit giant-ass snake." While still surfing down the backside of the snake, Mika began to make the hand-signs necessary to perform a summoning jutsu. However, before she even bit into her hand to complete it, she heard the screams of several hundred, perhaps even a thousand, birds.

Instinct and the Rokubi's abilities kicked in and in an instant Mika turned and caught Sasuke's Raikiri with her own electrified claw. The look of anger and murderous rage in the young boy's eyes faded quickly as he realized she had nullified his attack. "Raikiri ain't got shit on me little boy.", she growled and pulled him into a punch, knocking him off the snake, if only for a moment. "Pft, stupid kid… 'sigh' nothing like his brother." Mika finished her hand signs and blood sacrifice for her summon. Beneath her appeared a giant falcon-like bird who, with every flap of its majestic wings, lifted Mika higher and higher into the sky.

"What do you think you're doing, Hana?" The summon eyed the situation below him carefully. There were shinobi from all of the great villages fighting everywhere he looked and in the center of it all was Uchiha Madara perched happily atop his tower, enjoying the scent of death and hatred in the air.

The blonde rubbed her temple and corrected him. "It's Mika. Didn't Watari tell you?"

"Hmph!" The great aerial raptor flew higher and began to circle the tower. "Like I give a damn about you and your petty name changes. What's going on?" He demanded.

Mika jumped forward, landing in a sitting position on the falcon's beak. "I need you to take care of that snake." The eyes of the bird focused in on her as if she were forgetting something. She craned her neck to look back at the regal creature. "Please, for me, Roc-sama."

"Fine." The great bird known as Roc arched its back and then headed in for an attack on the snake. Just before its talons struck into the beast's back, Mika jumped down from her front row seat and landed next to where Madara was sitting on top of the tower.

Mika stood there silently for a moment, watching Roc dig his claws into Manda and carry the serpent a small distance away from the tower, when Madara spoke up. "Was there something you needed?"

"Huh?" The blonde turned her attention back to the Uchiha. "Oh no, sensei. I'm good." The man continued to stare at her until she slowly turned again to share his gaze. "Well…."

Madara stood up with a huff. "What is it child?"

"It's just that, I kinda have my hands full dealing with Orochimaru and his protégé. I'm just afraid that the Raikage will throw off my flow." Mika looked at him with shining tears in the corners of her eyes. The poor thing didn't want her flow to be thrown off.

The man's cold glare bored straight through her, but it found no insincerity inside. "Only because you were always my favorite student, Hana.", he patted her on her bum shoulder gently before jumping down from his perch to intercept the Raikage.

Mika smirked and quickly made her way through the crowd to Itachi. "He's in place." She whispered in his ear.

He nodded and asked, "Where are the other two?"

"Umm…" Mika turned and looked around. Things were beginning to get confusing. The four battles were starting to merge together and become one big free for all. Three of Pain's bodies had joined Itachi's fight, Sasuke had disappeared to god only knows where, and Orochimaru was…. "What the crap?!" Mika looked to her left to see Konan trying to paper-cut the snake sannin to death. _Christ, do I have to do everything around here?_

The blonde Jinchuuriki pushed past the blue-haired woman shouting, "He's mine! Back off! Don't you have Rock ninja to play with?"

"Those half-wits? Please. They're being quite helpful actually." The near-useless but clever bitch laughed and pointed back toward the, now completely blended, crowd of ninja. Amongst them were several dozen Rock ninja with pieces of paper stuck to their foreheads like post-its. Their eyes were glazed over and they were attacking the Leaf and Sand ninja without reproach. "Ugh." Konan looked up in the sky and poked Mika in the back. "Hey I think your pet rat is trying to tell you something."

"Hm?" Mika had been focusing her attention more on Orochimaru and the task of turning his already black heart to ash.

"I said, your disgusting excuse for a summon is having a fucking seizure. Now get out of my way and let me kill this pedophile." The paper angel lurched forward and began her fight anew with the snake sannin, while Mika stared up at Watari.

"Oh! I'm coming!", she shouted toward the bird and signaled for him to stay put so that she could gage her distance from her nephew. In reality, Naruto was less than half a mile away from Mika, but in the chaos of brainwashed Rock ninja versus already worn out Leaf and Sand ninja who were somewhat confused as to just who the enemy was anymore, the process was slow going.

Watari remained up in the sky, far from any real threat, watched as his master desperately fought her way to her only family. "Bah, I ain't gonna take this anymore." The raven flew down into the battlefield. "Naruto! Hey kid!" He shouted as he dodged kunai, among other random weapons and jutsu spinoff. "Naruto!"

The boy finally heard the bird's shouts above the clash of the battle. "Watari? …Watari!" He reached out and caught the bird. "OH MY GOD! Where's oba-chan!? Where is she? You have to take me to her!"

"Calm down, calm down. She's coming for you. Don't worry." The bird patted his hand with his wing, seeing as how the boy nearly had a death grip on him.

"Naruto! What the hell? Move!" _Christ! Why does this kid think its ok to not react in the middle of a fight?_ Kakashi used a chain on the ground to trip the young boy, knocking him to the ground just before a thrown sickle from a Rock ninja made contact with his neck. "Were you even thinking? We're in the middle of… a… war." The silver haired man had seen better days, but all things considered he was managing just fine in the fight. "Watari. Where's Mika?" He scanned the immediate area and after not seeing her reached down and pried the avian from Naruto's grasp. "Which way?"

"Uh, nice to see you too crazy cool hair guy. I don't know where she is but I know she's coming. She told me to find the little blonde there." The raven pointed with its beak to Naruto as the boy stood up from the dirt. Kakashi let go and the bird immediately repositioned itself on his shoulder. "I'm sure she's not too far off. She was coming from that direction." He pointed to the tower.

He nodded in understanding. "Alright. Naruto, you stay put and keep your eyes open. No more standing still and waiting to get your head chopped off."

The young boy, of course, had different plans. "Oh like hell you're gonna leave me behind, Kakashi-sensei!" He charged forward passing Kakashi and Watari, leading the way to find his aunt.

Watari was right. Mika wasn't all that far off. However, something had halted her from reaching her nephew. The initial sight stopped both Naruto and Kakashi in their tracks. Sasuke was facing his older brother and between them stood Mika… with Sasuke's electrified blade piercing straight through her left shoulder.

Mika had her right hand raised to shoulder level while her left hung at her side, clearly no longer of any use. "You… stupid… mother… fucking… son… of… a… mother… fucking… BITCH!" Mika slowly allowed her head to rise up and curse out the duck-haired boy. "SERIOUSLY?! The same fucking shoulder! You…. YOU… GOD DAMN IT! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" She screamed as she reached out and grabbed his ridiculous raven hair. Pulling him in close to her face she whispered with one of those crazy glares in her eyes. "We," she gestured behind her with her chin, "are the Good Guys."

The coldness in Sasuke's glare matched Mika's craziness. "Liar.", he whispered back.

Mika's breathing began to increase as she had, had it up to there with the ignorance of the emo and just as she was about to tear into him again, something much more pressing caught her sights behind him. In that instant, using her iron grip on his hair, she pulled him past herself and back toward Itachi as one of Pain's bodies took a swipe at the air Sasuke, until very recently, occupied.

Itachi knew how to react faster than his little brother and quickly moved out of the way, dragging Sasuke with him. The body of Pain was momentarily shocked at Mika's swift reaction. Realizing that she was a traitor, it lunged forward having acquired a new target… her. The first two swipes she managed to leap backwards, but on the third she lost her footing and fell to the ground still sitting up; the pain in her left arm nearly unbearable and throwing off her flow. The poor girl took in a sharp breath as she closed her eyes and braced herself for death.

"Yo."

There was a dull 'THUD' next to Mika, causing her to twitch out of her shell-like state. Slowly she opened her eyes to look at the ground, where she found a familiar pair of feet planted firmly on either side of her legs. A small smile crossed her face as she followed the feet up the legs, across the waist and chest until finally seeing that silly little crinkled eye smiling down at her. "…hey."

"So?", he blinked at her twice with both of his eyes open.

She only laughed tiredly and patted his foot with her good hand. "Details later. Sword out now."

"Hold still." Kakashi bent down, grabbed the handle of the sword and gave it a good pull. Unfortunately, that was only enough to pull it out halfway. A pained squeak escaped Mika's lips as she desperately tried not to scream out. "Oooh, sorry." He attempted to laugh off the lack of power in his sword-removal technique.

_He so did that on purpose._

_Shut the fuck up._

The Jounin braced himself and finished removing the weapon from Mika's shoulder. He offered his hand down to her and, very gingerly, she took it. "Listen…" She started. "I realize this might not be the best ti-i-i--WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

He was putting pressure on the wound. "If we don't stop it, you'll bleed to death."

Mika slapped his hand away and he looked at her with a shocked expression. "Kay, first off, I've had a wound like this before. I got some time before I 'bleed to death'. Secondly, I think we've established that you make for a crap medic nin. So, thanks, but no thanks."

Somewhat dramatically, he closed his eyes and shook his head from side to side. "It's never going to be easy for us, will it?"

The smile on Mika's face was his answer. "Highs and lows, my dear. Highs and lows." It was quiet for a few awkward seconds before the injured blonde continued her previous thought process. "Um, yea. Like I was saying. Just in case I don't get the chance to say it later… I want you to know that I'm sorry."

Kakashi looked into her eyes kindly. "You already apologized. Remember? I walked out on you."

"No, that was for being this." She flicked the collar of her robe. "I'm sorry for seriously over-reacting to that whole… ex-girlfriend/lover thing. It was stupid and yea, I'm sorry." Mika took a breath and glanced off to the side, mildly depressed now.

"God you can be really dense sometimes, Sparky." The silver-haired man grabbed her chin and pulled her into a kiss.

_Depression gone!_

_You can say that again!_

…_Really?!_

_No._

As loving and beautiful as the moment was, could it have been any surprise that it wouldn't last that long? Of course not. "Ow, ow, ow!" Mika pulled back quickly as Watari attempted to bore a hole into her skull from his perch on Kakashi's shoulder.

"Heh, I bet you thought I wasn't here anymore, eh?" The raven glared at her with one eye more open than the other.

"Tch." The blonde rubbed her temple, trying to soothe yet another injury. "How could I? You're a constant drain on my chakra."

The bird looked away with a sad look in his eyes. "Well, geez. Nice to be loved."

"God… come here." Mika reached over and snatched the blackbird from Kakashi's shoulder and placing him on her own. "You are loved. Now quit being so sensitive. We're in a war right now."

"Actually," Kakashi held her good shoulder and gestured for her to look around. "We're doing pretty good now. So I think you need to dismiss your summon."

Watari turned on him, pecking away his hand. "Oi! Why should I have to go?"

"Not you, but still you probably should too." He messed with the bird's necklace. _Mika does know how dangerous it would be for her if either Watari or that giant eagle got hurt, right?_

"Actually," Mika ignored the small conversation between the bird and man. "We're not doing good until Madara-sensei is killed." She turned away to look for her partner. "Speaking of… where is--" Her jaw dropped to a level incapable of performing the act of speech. "Oh my…"

"What?" Both Kakashi and Watari looked to see what had caused Mika to halt her words.

For good reason one would suppose, because the sight that the three of them beheld was nothing short of impossible. In fact, there are no words that could possibly be written to describe the scene in terms capable of relaying the gravity of the event.

"Wow… that's something I never thought I would live to see." Mika leaned back into Kakashi.

"Me neither." He answered her holding up her weight.

In front of them were Itachi and Sasuke… hugging. Naruto was also standing near them smiling from ear to ear, as if he had something to do with the reunion. Upon further thought, he probably did. If anyone could it would be him. "Oba-chan!", the young blonde boy shouted and rushed toward her.

"Oh! Naruto!" She stood back up on her own and threw her one arm around him. "I'd hug with both arms but this one is broke." She squeezed him twice as hard to make up for the fact. He finally let go of her and looked up into her eyes with tears in his. "Please don't cry." She sniffled, "You're gonna make me cry."

"Mika." Kakashi reached forward and pulled on her robe. His voice had a warning tone in it.

"How touching." A dark figure stepped over the dead body of Pain toward the mildly spread out group. "Though, I've always found family reunions somewhat… overrated." Instinctively, Itachi moved in front of his younger brother; Mika did the same with Naruto but the red-eyed angel shot her a forbearing glare. It was as if he were telling her to get back as well. She may have been his shield and his sword for all those years, but this was his fight… and his alone. "What?", the imposing shadow inquired. "Did you honestly think I didn't know that you were traitorous? Are you seriously not going to attempt to strike me down, child?" Mika slunk backwards, still keeping her nephew behind her.

"No," Itachi started walking to meet Madara as he entered the light. "You're fight is with me."

Sasuke stepped up next to his brother. "As with me."

The orange mask chuckled maniacally as it dropped the bleeding head of the Raikage on the ground at Itachi's feet. "Funny, I had money bet that, that little duck-haired mongrel would kill you before I got the chance."

The pre-fight banter continued, while Kakashi leaned into Mika's ear. "Please Mika, dismiss your summons now."

Very slowly she turned her head to respond to him. "Why? Roc hasn't killed Manda yet." A quick glance over to where the two behemoths fought proved her point. Both beasts were littered with scratches, but in general, Roc was unharmed while Manda had taken quite the beating. Snakes are a natural prey of aerial raptors after all.

"Because, don't you know?" He insisted.

A majority of Mika's attention was on the fast to boil fight between the last heirs of the Uchiha clan; and the danger they posed to herself and those she held most dear. "Know what?" She responded dismissively. "H-Hold on a sec, alright. We need to get out of here." With a bit of pushing and pulling she, along with Kakashi and her nephew were a much safer distance from the beginning epic battle. "Now what don't I know about?"

The man had, had enough. "Get rid of the birds, now." He ordered, pointing at Roc as that was the most pressing issue.

"Oi, oi, oi! Now who do you think you are, mister?" Watari squawked in his own defense. "Mika will dismiss us when she darn well feels like it!"

"She feels like it." He actually sneered at the obnoxious bird.

Mika cocked her head to the side in mild confusion. "Uh… o.k. Kakashi acting aggressive, controlling, and completely sexist to the point of abnormality… Seriously, what's wrong?" She sighed deeply, reaching out to grab Naruto by the forearm with her still functioning right one. "And where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to help Sasuke. Let me go." The blonde's words were resolute and simple.

"No you're not." Both Mika and Kakashi spoke in unison. "Look,", Mika started. "That over there is a family issue. It's not your place to go busting in there. So quit your fussin'." She noticed that Kakashi was about to push her again to get rid of her summons so she put a hand to silence him ahead of time. "For you, my love, I will not hesitate a moment more. Though I may not know why, if you want the birds gone, consider them so." She shook her head, smiling. "Say goodbye, Watari."

"Big-bird first." The silver-haired Jounin corrected her.

"Of course, darling." Mika's mocking grin turned to face the giant eagle. Just as she was about to release the summon, it happened.

Roc had that giant serpent on the ropes. Manda was on the verge of death. Nothing was standing in the way. The predator eats the prey. But whether it was bad luck or nature's idea of a curve ball, the tides turned. In one last ditch attempt at taking the majestic eagle down, the snake shot up and bit down into the side of Roc's neck. The bird screeched out in agony as the fangs pierced through his throat and began pumping their deadly toxin into his bloodstream. He collapsed down on top of the great serpent, crushing its head. Before his last breath, Mika dismissed him… unaware of what fate she had just doomed herself to.

… _no._ Kakashi's eyes widened as the characteristic bite marks of a snake appeared on Mika's neck.

"M-Mika? MIKA!" Watari squawked, desperately fluttering and completely helpless to the situation.

She was left speechless from the sudden injury. The feeling of an open wound, the burning of the snake venom in her veins, she knew, though not how, what was happening. Slowly, Mika reached up and held her throat where the bite was. Her knees buckled and she fell, Kakashi catching her just inches from the ground.

"Oba-chan?" Naruto looked down at her, utterly confused as to what was happening. _I don't get it. What hit her? Who attacked her?_

With one arm, Kakashi held her up. He placed his other hand on top of her own hand on her throat. "Naruto, go find Sakura.", he spoke hurriedly. "Both of you go!" He glanced up at the frantic raven over their heads.

"Right!" The two headed off to fetch Mika's last hope. With Watari up in the sky, it wouldn't take long at all to find a head of bright pink hair in the crowd.

"You're going to be o.k. Mika." The venom was visible through her skin at this point, quickly making its way to her vital organs. Her breathing was strained and her eyelids began to fall, pulling her into unconsciousness. "Mika, don't close your eyes. Stay with me." Every muscle near her neck was paralyzed. Otherwise her thoughts would have been her words.

_Why is this happening? Why aren't you healing me?!_

…_. Ack! Why? Why? It's that stupid bird!...'cough'cough'_

_Why are you coughing? What's wrong with you?_

_I'm poisoned too! … 'cough'cough'cough' … Can't breathe!_

… _That doesn't make any sense! There's no such thing as 'chakra venom'._

…_'cough'cough'cough'cough' (Deep breath) How the hell would you know! We're both dying! (Collapses)_

"Mika, I said don't close your eyes. Mika!" Kakashi moved his hand to feel for a pulse. With every second, it became more and more faint.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura rushed forward to the other side of Mika's limp body. "What is it? What's wrong with her?"

"Poison." He placed the blonde gently on the ground, flat for Sakura to work on her.

The young girl examined the bite and the path of the toxin. "From what?"

"That!" Naruto, with Watari on his shoulder, pointed to the dead behemoth serpent in the distance.

"Um… alright!" Sakura jolted herself out of her confusion over how a giant snake poisons a normal sized human being without just eating them. Carefully, she placed her hands over the dying girl, the glow of healing chakra emitted from her. A few moments passed… nothing.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto knelt down next to her, tears getting ready for either the impending joy or sorrow of the next moment. His eyes glued to the medic nin's face, searching for a sign. The light behind Mika's eyes faded as Sakura's hands dropped down to her sides. "I'm sorry…"

Kakashi looked up at her. _Sorry? Sorry? …What does that mean?_

"She's… gone."

* * *

**Commence with the awarding of the Oscars. I'm thinking one more chapter… unless ya'll like where I ended it. :) I don't really know if I should write anymore… hmmmm… I guess I'll write one more chapter, cause I love ya'll so much! (That means, yes. There is one more chapter to come.)**

**Also, just a note here. It looks like only 5 people have gone to my profile and voted in my poll to decide the pairing in my next story. Actually, there was 6 but I eliminated one of the choices cause it only had one vote and I lost inspiration for the pairing. (sry Kiba fangirls, but my character is too big for a secondary character pairing) So go vote!**

**P.S. REVIEW!!! So commands thy master! (master=Rokubi)**


	52. Of Connections and Stones

…… **-_-' **

**Now, it seems to me that those of you that reviewed were a bit confused about the end of the previous chapter. That was not the "END". I said in the A/N that there was still one more chapter. That being said, for your reading enjoyment may I present to you, THE FINAL CHAPTER OF SPARKS THAT FLY AND FALL.**

**(Still confused? Reference chapter 21: Killing Loneliness and chapter 22: Promises)**

* * *

Chapter 51: Of Connections and Stones

Sakura's chin dropped down to her chest. "I'm sorry. She's… gone."

"Gone! Gone! What the hell does that mean?" Naruto screamed at the medic nin. "Please Mika-chan, come back!" The young boy shook the limp body on the ground. "Please don't go…", he pleaded as tears streamed down his face. "Please…"

--

A fine mist covered everything in sight. The trees were bare and the ground was nothing but dry dirt. She was standing in the middle of a clearly defined path, slowly taking in her surroundings. It was difficult to see further than a few meters in any direction but what could be seen had a pale, faint coloring to it. "This is… strange."

"Agreed." A familiar voice answered her.

The woman turned her head to look for the source. Sitting on the ground to her left, attached to her wrist by a thin silver chain, was a small, bronze and white colored weasel… with six tails. "Rokubi?" It looked up at her with its solid black eyes and nodded. A calm smile crossed the woman's face. "Even in death, eh?" She gestured to the chain that acted as a bracelet for her and a collar for him.

" 'fraid so." He scratched his ear with his back foot. "Hey do you feel this weird sense of peace too?"

She nodded reaching down to pick up the small critter. "It would be upsetting if I was capable of feeling that right now." She cradled him in her arms, only to have the weasel flip around and set his head down on her shoulder.

"This place looks like a haunted forest." He nipped at her earlobe.

The woman tugged on his end of the chain to stop him. "I think we're in purgatory."

The Rokubi sighed heavily. "Better than hell I guess." They walked down the path for a few minutes before she stopped and held the creature in front of her, looking it in the eyes. "What is it?" The black orbs blinked in confusion.

"We've gone over six minutes without cursing at each other." It took another couple of seconds for this to sink in.

"Hmm… that is odd. Are you feeling alright, Mika?" The weasel squirmed in her grasp until she pulled him in close again.

"I feel… fine."

--

Kakashi reached forward and placed his hand over Mika's eyes, closing them for the last time. Naruto continued to cry into the dead body's chest, refusing to let go.

"I'm sorry." Sakura stood up and dusted the dirt off of herself. "There are others that need me." Her sensei waved her off dismissively and without emotion. "… I'm sorry.", she whispered again as she turned quickly to help the other wounded on the battlefield. She didn't get far. When she turned, she ran straight into Sasuke. He caught her by the arms and looked down at her. The girl gasped, "Sasuke…"

His eyes panned from her to the scene behind her. "What happened?"

Sakura's eyes fell off to the side as she took a step back, out of his grasp. "Poisoned." Her inadequacy issues surfaced. "I couldn't save her." The girl rushed off to aid the other fallen ninja.

--

"Hey, can you see that?" Mika readjusted the Rokubi in her arms and pointed down the path.

"Yea, it looks like a person. Hurry up and walk faster. I wanna see who it is." The weasel jumped from her hold on him and ran, pulling on the chain with all the force a small rodent could.

"What's your rush?"

"Why aren't you rushing? Maybe they can help us." He continued to pull.

Mika just walked forward with the same pace she had been, slowly but steadily getting closer to the figure in the distance. "Help us with what?"

"Pass on… that's what we're supposed to do, right?"

"I guess so." She answered him half-heartedly. "What are our choices? Is it possible for us to go back?"

"Ask him."

The figure in the mist was now much clearer. A man with blonde, somewhat spiky hair and a white coat over his green Jounin vest. "…!" Mika gasped. "Nii-san!" She ran past the weasel on the ground without picking him up and inadvertently dragged him behind her as she rushed to her brother's now open arms.

"Hey there, Sparky." The man held her tightly with a smile on his face.

"Oh my god. Nii-san, I-I… I don't know what to say." The lost expression on Mika's face explained it all.

"I know. I know." He comforted her. "But what are you doing here?" He held her back and looked at her. "How old are you?"

She stared back at him with wide-eyes. "Um… I'm 28."

"You're 29." The Rokubi crawled up her back and peeked over her shoulder. "Your birthday was last month. You didn't celebrate it, remember." He looked away from Mika's cheek and saw the Yondaime. "Hey."

The man nodded to the weasel and then looked back at his little sister. "Rokubi's here too, huh?"

Mika nodded and let her head drop. "We died."

Minato grabbed her chin and lifted her head back up. "Not quite." Both Mika and the Rokubi's eyebrows raised in confusion. "Nothing is set in stone, Sparky. Now you better keep on walking and I better not see you again until you're 80 and a grandmother, you hear me?"

--

Sasuke took a step forward and looked down at his sensei and former teammate. He knew better than to try talking to either one of them at the moment. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked back at his brother's body. Itachi had died in the battle with Madara, but he took that bastard with him. More than once during that fight, Itachi saved his life. Taking a hit that was intended for the younger Uchiha. With a shallow sigh, he knelt down and placed his hand on Naruto's back; letting him know he was there for him.

"… Who are you?" The raven perched on Naruto's shoulder asked Sasuke.

Kakashi finally looked up from Mika's corpse to see his two former students. One comforting the other's loss. Silently, he stood and began to walk away.

But Watari noticed and flew after him, landing on his head and bending over to look him in the eye. "Where do you think you're going?"

The man reached up and pulled the blackbird off of himself, forcing it to flutter about until it found a perch on a nearby tree branch that was conveniently at head level.

"Don't you care that she's dead?" The bird prodded.

With his one black eye, Kakashi stared at the bird. "This is the third time… the third time that I've lost her. First when the Kyuubi attacked, then when I thought she was a traitor and now this. I can't take it anymore…" He closed his eye and swallowed hard. "But I guess I won't have to."

Watari watched him carefully, noting the pain in his voice and gestures. It was genuine. Puffing up his little chest, the bird flew over onto the silver-haired man's shoulder. "Take me back to her." He ordered.

--

Reluctantly, Mika had continued down the misty path, leaving her older brother behind. "Who else do you suppose is around here?" The Rokubi shrugged his shoulders before snuggling into the crease of her elbow. The weasel appeared to be falling asleep in her arms. It was turning out to be a long walk and he was grateful for the free ride. Mika sighed and trudged forward, when she heard someone call her name.

"Mika!"

"Huh?" She looked around looking to see the source of the voice in the dense mist. "Hello?", she called out.

"Mika! Oh my gosh! Mika!" A black haired woman shot out from behind a tree and tackled Mika to the ground, accidentally causing the Rokubi to go flying from her arms. However, he only flew for the distance allowed by his unorthodox leash.

"Gah! Get off!.... Oh, Rei? Oh! Rei!" Mika hugged her lost friend as if her life depended on it.

The two girls started chattering like a couple of school girls. With every sudden movement that Mika made, the Rokubi was jolted around. He finally managed to reach her side and bite her ankle. "You know…" he started having earned her attention. "Even though I'm a bijuu made of pure chakra… it still hurts when you choke me like that."

"Oh my god! What is that thing?" Rei pointed in shock at the rodent like creature.

Mika stared at Rei blankly for a moment while she thought of her answer. "Um, yea. I kinda left that out about me." She raised her wrist to show off the silver chain. "I'm a… er, rather I was, a Jinchuuriki. This is the six-tailed beast, Rokubi. He's a lot cuter than he would seem to be, right?" She smiled.

Rei knelt down and poked him. "Beast?" She giggled. "But he's so tiny."

"For whatever reason, I don't really have it in me at the moment, but normally I would cuss you out for that." The little weasel plopped himself down in the dirt and pouted, his six fluffy tails flickering back and forth behind him.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Rei snatched him up and cuddled the cute little thing. "I'm sorry, little buddy. I think you're positively adorable!"

"Rei…" Mika reached out and took the Rokubi away from her so that she would get a focused answer. "How long have you been here?"

"Hmm…. Ya' know, I don't really know. Genjo and I have been just walking around for what feels like eternity."

"Eternity? But you've only been dead for 7 months. Wait, Genjo?" Mika swiveled around to catch the nobility slowly making his way down the embankment of the road.

He looked up sensing a pair of eyes on him. "Ah! Mika-chan! How lovely of you to join us!" He waved joyfully.

"Um, join you?"

The Rokubi looked up from his cradle in Mika's arms. "We are not joining them… right?" She looked at him like she didn't know what to do.

Genjo walked up next to Rei, throwing his arms around her sweetly. They made such a cute couple. "So Mika? Will you be staying with us?"

--

Kakashi's steps drew Sasuke's attention away from his friend's grief. More than ever before, his former sensei looked like an old man. The stress of the war and the loss of Mika must have brought it out of him. As the man fell to his knees on the other side of the dead woman, the bird on his shoulder dropped down and spoke. "Move him." It gestured to Naruto.

Quietly, Sasuke began to pull his friend from the source of his mourning. "NO!", the blonde fought, but Kakashi reached across and held his shoulders, silencing him.

"Stop it."

Naruto was about to snap back at the two others that were trying to take him away from his only family, but the sight of Watari slowly walking up the length of Mika's body caught his eye. "What are you--"

The bird cut him off with a wave of his wing. "Be quiet. I'm…" He sighed heavily. "Just be quiet and don't touch her." The three inched back slightly to make sure they were at a suitable distance. "Oh and you.", he pointed to Sasuke. "Go get that medic nin. It's been almost 15 minutes and her blood has begun to coagulate. She won't last long if her blood can't be pumped though her veins." Watari settled himself on Mika's chest and stared at the bite mark on her neck that had veins of poison still radiating from it. _People still need you here, doll._ He closed his eyes.

--

"She most certainly will not be!" There was a fluttering sound as the four looked up in a nearby tree. Watari stood resolutely staring down at them. "Mika, you're going back right now."

"Watari, what are you doing here? Oh, I left you and you died didn't you? I'm so sorry. I should have dismissed you first I guess." She sighed. "Now you're stuck here with us…"

The raven flew down and landed on a tree stump, much closer to her. "Hey now, doll. I love the sympathy, but I'm not dead." _…yet._, he thought. "Don't you remember all the people you left up there?"

"Well, yea. But what's that got to do with anything?"

He shook his head back and forth. "They need you and you're going back." The bird nodded to the Rokubi in her arms. "Freaky weasel and all." Mika continued to stare at her summon blankly. "So…. Are you going to walk over to where I am or do I need to fly over to you?" The bird ruffled its feathers in annoyance. He was sacrificing himself for her and all she could do was stare.

"I-I don't get it." Mika sat down on the ground. "I can go back… how? I'm dead. Last time I checked that was a permanent type of thing."

Rei and Genjo laughed lightly. "Nothing is ever set in stone, Mika. You should know that."

"Silly girl." Watari flew over and stood in front of her. "I'm as connected to you, as you are to me. And that includes any other things that happened to be attached to your soul." The Rokubi was cleaning his paw and looked up to catch the glare of the raven. "Just promise me you'll be good. And stick with your family. That's where you belong." With that, Watari jumped up and struck her in the head.

--

"Sasuke, I already told you." Sakura was being dragged back toward Mika's corpse. "She's dead and there are other injured people that could still use saving." She hissed quietly, taking care to keep her voice from reaching Naruto or Kakashi's ears.

"Three years ago I wouldn't have had to drag you anywhere…", the raven-haired boy grumbled irritably. "Stop it." He pulled roughly on her wrist and glared at her harshly. She only returned the glare two-fold. It caught him off-guard. He was certain she would cower and back down. _Three years… should've known._ "Look Sakura, I don't know what's going on. But that talking bird said that it was going to need you to undo the coagulation of that woman's blood. So stop being such a whiny bitch and come on."

The pink-haired girl snatched back her wrist and strode alongside him. "That woman has a name and it's Mika. She's Naruto's aunt and I don't want to ever hear you talk about her so callously again. Do you understand me, Sasuke-kun?" She grabbed his shoulder and squeezed with that freakish strength that Tsunade taught her. He winced and nodded slightly, looking back to their destination only a few meters away now. "Good."

Both Kakashi and Naruto were watching the raven intently. Neither knew what was going to happen, but they were both praying for a miracle. Suddenly, there was a slight movement. Both men twitched and looked at each other briefly, unsure if it was Watari or Mika that had moved. Slowly, the raven's head dropped down, his necklace loosening and falling forward slightly with him.

Stressfully, Naruto leaned back and looked up at the sky. "Oh God.", he whispered and closed his eyes.

Then Mika's chest rose and fell… and then rose and fell again. She was breathing steadily. Kakashi couldn't believe what was happening right before his eyes. She was dead… dead and gone, her blood wasn't pumping, her brain should have died minutes ago and yet her lungs were filling with air and she was breathing. She was alive!

He leaned forward, over her head and whispered. "…Mika? Mika, are you there?"

Naruto heard his teacher's words and instantly his eyes shot down to his aunt. He gasped and slammed his hands down on her upper arm… the one stabbed by Sasuke. "Oba-chan!"

The shot of pain from her wound brought her back to consciousness… and into direct contact with Kakashi's forehead. Mika shot up from the ground only to make it a few measly inches before smacking right into Kakashi as he hovered over her. Both fell back to the ground, Mika looking dazed and Kakashi holding his head.

Sakura and Sasuke were standing at Mika's feet in a state of shock. The pink-haired girl snapped back to reality first and began running through the paces she learned in her medical training. Though really, who could prepare themselves for helping to fully revive the dead? She started healing the dead tissue and mixing up the congealed blood inside her veins, breaking up any clots that could cause a heart attack or worse, a stroke.

Mika slowly rolled her head toward Naruto and whispered. "Get… off."

"Hm?" He smiled dumbly with tears of joy sitting nicely in the corners of his eyes. "Oh! Sorry." The young blonde removed his death grip from her arm.

She breathed a sigh of relief and then rolled her head back to the side to see her one -eyed hero looking at her with the sweetest gaze, still holding his head. "What's that look for?" Mika looked back at him from behind heavy eyelids.

Kakashi's eye squinted in a smile as he shook his head back and forth. "Nothing."

Sakura finished and moved over to her torn up shoulder to begin work on that. The girl was quite astounded with herself at the moment. She had just aided in reanimating a dead body. Clearly the possibility of zombification never occurred to her.

Slowly, Mika sat up, helped by the two closest men in her life, and caught Watari's body as it fell from her chest. "Watari?", she petted the large raven and cradled his head before it struck her. "He's dead."

"It was an exchange. Wasn't it?" Kakashi asked.

She nodded sadly and slipped his loose necklace off of him, wrapping it around her wrist twice as a bracelet. The group was quiet for a moment and then Mika looked up to see Sasuke as the last person standing. "What?", she asked.

The boy stood with a morose expression on his face. "I'm the one that summoned Manda, not Orochimaru."

Mika's face resembled one of boredom, but it was most likely extreme fatigue. "So what's your point?"

"I'm the one that caused your death."

Only Mika and Kakashi were paying any attention to the emo boy. Naruto was too entranced by his aunt miraculous revival that all he heard were her words and Sakura was still fervently working on her torn up shoulder. So much so, she didn't care what Sasuke had to say.

"Well," Mika blinked slowly. "I think there are a few degrees of separation between you and the 'cause' of my… momentary lapse in continuous life." The blonde leaned back into Kakashi ,who more than willingly wrapped his arms around her protectively. "Even if it was your fault, I'm not really the revenge type. Guess I'm a bit too lazy for it." She grinned weakly. "Now this," she leaned her head toward her lacerated shoulder. "This is completely your fault."

The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes and made a face that reminded Mika of Itachi so much.

_Just like his older brother…_, she smiled inwardly.

_I'm gonna miss Itachi so much!_

"But seeing as how you're basically Naruto's brother, I guess that makes you my nephew. And I can always forgive family."

"Alright. All done." Sakura stood back up and clapped her hands together. "You still should go back to the hospital in Konoha, though and have the doctors there take a look at you."

"Kay." Mika turned to look at Kakashi as he held her securely. "Vamos?"

He leaned his head down into her neck and answered. "Si." She started to giggle. "What?" He looked back up at her.

"You're hair… it tickles." She explained, an innocent smile still planted on her face. It must have been positively too much for him to take. Kakashi slid down his mask and kissed right there on the cheek.

Sakura covered her mouth, Sasuke's eyes doubled in size and Naruto's chin hit the ground, all in utter shock. For years they had wanted to know what was under the mask, never to discover the truth and yet so casually he just took it off in front of them. It just wasn't fair.

"Come on." The silver-haired Jounin put his mask back on and picked Mika up into his arms. "We have to get you to the hospital."

"Ugh. I hate the hospital… except for that citrus smell they have sometimes. That's a good smell."

"Yes it is." He carried her past the three young ninja and back to their home village.

* * *

**That's all she wrote, ladies and gents! Hope you liked it, enjoyed it, or possibly even loved it. Now you are all required by universal fan-fiction law to ****LEAVE A FINAL REVIEW**** of the story. Whether you are reading this the day it was posted or if it's been over a year or more since it was finished. I like opinions and it doesn't hurt to kiss my ass… or kick it I guess. P.S. Next fic coming out soon. Vote for pairing on my profile and don't forget to 'Author Alert' me so you see when it gets posted!**

**Epilogue: (choose for yourself…xD Have fun!)**

**And they all lived **happily/miserably** ever after. Mika and Kakashi **did/didn't** get married. They had **'x'** amount of children. The **kid/kids** were **normal/extraordinary/amazing singer-s that formed a family band**. For whatever reason **they/he/she** had **blonde/silver /red/black/turquoise** colored hair. The Rokubi **was with Mika forever/was removed and put inside a real weasel/died**. Naruto ended up with **Sakura/Hinata/Kara!/Anko(woot, Older lady!)**. Sasuke ended up with **Sakura/Hinata/Kara!/herpes**. THE END** of the story/of existence**.**


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